The mistakes I've made
become the ammunition you stockpile in this emotional arm's race
promises we break
dig at my heart's cave
that I hide in throughout our love's cold war
but it's ventricles
become tentacles
begging that I don't hand it over
grasping at my rib cage
pleading to stay
ripping my chest, waiting on a truce
an armistice in the separation of you...

If I keep my promise
If I carry your hope when you cannot hope
If I speak the gentle words of comfort when your lips are dry and parched,
If I make a quiet and sweet world for your escape when the world outside seems too cold
or too loud, or too wild
If I give you the sky and all the space of the prairies to dance, and run, and ride
Then, my dear, we will never fade,
or lose our luster.
If you want it, love, a life unimaginable.

For L.

I've seen the face of God,
and I'm no religious girl.

I've hugged him tight and kissed him hard,
we threw back a few beers in my backyard.

I've yelled at him and watched him cry,
held his hand as I watched him die.

We went camping and hiked so far,
I made love to him in the secret dark.

I've tossed him up high in the air
and tickled him as he pulled my hair.

He's comforted me while I was sick,
and knows all of my stupid ticks.

We laid together and looked at the stars,
and wondered foolishly where we are.

I sat with him near his wood burning stove,
as he told me stories of the days of old.

I cried with him as we said goodbye,
then fell asleep to his lullaby.

I've held his face
and looked in his eyes
He's not in heaven
hes not in the skies.

I've seen the face of God,
I don't even go to mass.
Some things you must simply see,
and no priest can teach you that.

He didn’t know what time it was,
Except that it was early,
And he wouldn’t need to be up for hours.

So he turned his head toward the
Only window in the room,
Which was so white that it appeared
To be encasing ten feet of snow.
It was April, though,
He remembered through the neon glow,
And the room was 17 floors up.
The old hotel was silent,
Bathed in this new sunrise, so
Cold and refreshingly bright;
This new day- this white, ****** light.

And then there was the girl-
Sleeping beside him like a kitten
In a sea of pale linens and downs,
An arm over her forehead,
Like a dozing damsel in distress.
She’s fragile, he thought,
Fragile and rare as a glass unicorn,
The heart-wrenching, Tennessee Williams type-
No broken horn, but something
Indistinguishable setting her apart;
Like the pure sunlight, here lies
A beauty so blinding, yet hidden from plain sight.

He didn’t know what time it was,
Except that it was early,
And he wouldn’t need to be up for hours.
Her arm twitched.
The room was boomingly silent.
The infant light made a golden bar across the bed.
The air was crisp.
His breath was warm.
He felt chilled.
His skin felt raw.
His eyes felt raw.
His heart felt raw.
Her skin looked soft.
He wondered if her heart was soft.
He swallowed quietly.
He felt his head pound against the quiet.
Her arm twitched again.
A long-forgotten childhood scar shimmered,
And he decided that this particular mark
Is innocent, but…
He would move a mountain and
Protect her always; keep an eye on her,
In all her wild wonder,
Rather that give her another.

And then there’s the slight voice:
"Beautiful as if made of marble,
Untouchable as if made of glass,
If you’ve ever wondered how an angel sleeps,
Now you know at last."

And while he slipped back under the covers,
He slipped helplessly into a love from which he'd never quite recover.