What I heard
And what you said
Subtlety clash,
Like that split second
Between reaching out
And realizing
That the person in the mirror
Is not reaching back.

Hearing you call her your sunshine
hurt me in a way that I didn’t expect.
It didn’t hurt the way a toothache tastes
or the way it smells when someone else
blows out candles on your birthday cake;
it hurt the way it stings to look underwater
in the ocean, but I find myself doing it anyways
because the provocative view is worth the pain.  
You are salt water seeping into my tear ducts
but I’m always stupid enough to open my eyes.

I am the earth; in hopes of knowing you better, I had to lock you in
& You are the moon, who let yourself be tidally locked so you can keep a part of yourself hidden

And even if it takes
Four billion of my years
I will keep on hoping
That maybe one day
Gravity will let me win,
And you will stop rotating
as you orbit around the earth;
That after all the waiting
I will see the part
*you've been hiding

That thing that keeps you warm
makes you easier to burn

And that thing that makes you cold
makes it easier for you to breathe