Glorious, life-giving sun.
Spreading rays spreading down to my spreading fingertip branches outstretched.
Kissing forehead, cheeks.
Gently waking me, washing off sleep. Fading out dreams.
Bringing me back to the place where the nightmares can't reach.

Cloud cover rolls in.
Shivering arctic wind shivering into my shivering limbs curved to fetal position. Ice-burdened branches.
Stinging nose, toes.
Forcing me under the surface through the crack in the skating pond.
Bones rattling like chains holding me in this overcast prison.

You awake in me the same excitement as the sound of the coffee *** bravely bubbling up something inside like the elixir of life that makes day-to-day, tedious trials more bearable.
Thousands of cups of coffee shared with you, talking out problems and people, with one rule: No pity parties at Purdy's, so we'd take walks.
Walks and talks and walks and talks, getting to know you, and me. Getting to know the feeling of Richmond beneath our feet, and we were free. Save, one passing comment on the adrenals and caffeine.  
And unknowingly, you taught a broken girl how to trust. Taught her that growing together with someone, like good coffee, is not something that should be rushed.

Metaphorically, you are a sly simile,
Stealing my heart
Like the smooth criminal
You often pretend to be.

I am the ineffable euphony of
Melodious sing-song
Slip-falling through the space
Between tone-deaf ears.

Such handsome hyperbole
You have turned out to be.
Pompous, peacock-ing Adonis
Lending love that's just platonic.

Alliterative rhythmic rhyme
Ticks the tumultuous internal time.
Fleeting fiend, you soon will find
Lust in lieu of love is a loathsome, lonely life.

I was a glacier
Before the white-hot steel shard
Melted me from the core,
Piercing deep, touching my heart.

Now I am a pristine tropical sea
Teeming with innumerable life,
And I draw you inside.
You lose yourself in the ebbing tide.

Quickly you learn that
There is no controlling this force you have unleashed,
So you just go with the flow
Of the swirling ocean, me.

Swimming, exploring inside
You know salt water can never quench this thirst.
Pure joy smile touches sun sweet lips
You're caught up, content, in the glorious surf.

Watching you these days
Is like watching a snake bite victim
As his bulging eyes glaze
First a general malaise, then no hope of being saved.

The serpent's fangs injected venom
Deep into your veins and then the fear set in,
The anger penetrated your consciousness,
Pulse forcing poison, cutting off oxygen.

Higher and higher, your heart rate
Makes the venom strangle sooner,
Squeezing your heart in its burning hand,
This is the serpent's last revenge for you not being her man.

She sneers as she strangles
Surreptitiously from the inside of your chest.
Soon your lungs have deflated,
And your struggling heart is compressed.

All I know now is that I need to find,
A new heart for you, so I offer up mine.
I cut open my chest as my lungs begin seizing,
Extract my last gift and place it in your hands, bleeding.

But little did I know, I was a moment too late,
Because then in your eyes I saw you had accepted your fate.
You gasped your last breath, and I gurgled out mine.
The serpent has won. This is not the first time.

The storm rages wild outside the window
But with you in the room, my breath seems to slow
Till my fears brought on by the thunderbolts
Are not very much
Not even a little
Not even at all.

The glare on the wine glass from the glow of the fire
Warming me up from the inside and the bits of exposed skin
Till the chill from the wind
Is not very much
Not even a little
Not even at all.

As pleasant conversations turn to unspoken evaluations
Your eyes start to smolder
Till the space between our fingers
Is not very much
Not even a little
Not even at all.

I will be there
When the small hands cry copper red
And the night closes in
Like his hand around your throat.

I will be there
When the purple-black-blue
Pervades the fleshy pink in-between
You think everyone sees.

And when the yellow soaked shorts
Clash the scarlet-splattered shirt,
I will be there, scooping you up
In arms soft as feathers,
Strong as steel.

There need be no more fear.
As long as I'm living,
I'm with you.
I'm here.