And we dipped in the pool
Slowly, rolling, wholly,
The frozen heat fell like icicles
Smoke hugging our bodies

And we shivered
Jagged, razor, haggared,
But the cold went
And my mouth, open, pulled

The pain may have gone
Or not, maybe, matters not
But we froze together
Feeling space and liberation

Our bodies shook
Our minds, spoke, unwind,
Knowing beyond the cold
There was only mystery.

some still haven't let go
grasping at me with tendrils
like the wisps of smoke
you find hanging in the air
ethereal, drifting
but vulnerable
i've been shattered
and swept up
been put back together
and thrown back up
but i always made it back
maybe not entirely the same
perhaps altered
but not deranged
haggared and rough around the edges
for sure, but still together
its true i learned a lot
worked my way through
something i fought
either way, i am still here
wiser in ways
torn in others
jaded in some
but stronger by far

Working
Fingers bleeding
paper cuts, and open wounds oozing dark red
Your face pale as white, haggared bones and exhaustion filling you
Your lips, cracked and ripped as you sit there on your chair, hunched back, working.
Working from the moment the sun kisses the moon, til the moment they part
Holding your hands, I wipe off the blood revealing your flesh colored fingertips
I wipe your face, taking off the grime and the soot,
exposing your rosy red cheeks.
You stop me while saying,
"Stop, we're not done yet."
Looking at me with your hazelnut brown eyes,
Shimmering under the light that's illuminated your workplace of years.
You wipe your face, take off the bandages covering your tender fingertips and hunch back over.

Staring, all I could mutter was,
"Beautiful."