i never imagined this.
but i saw you sleeping.
.
i have spent years choking on cruelty.
cannot look back without getting lost in the dark.
and death takes everyone.
(but it hurts more when
life does… they forget
even while they’re breathing.
they forget you.)
until i am
fatherless,
always
motherless.
i can
run
the
farthest.
.
you are startling.
and i never imagined,
.
presenting knees, elbows, cold feet
but you love.
pushing hard against you—
but you love.
i am ash after a forgotten fire, a hollow echo
the coldest wind
making words for no one
only in the trees—
but you are so patient
and you love.
.
.
perishable.
.
you see, it isn’t that good things aren’t worth it.
it’s that they end.
and after all,
we never really know what we’ve lived through.
but i saw you sleeping.
and i kissed your forehead.
because i have no words to tell you
how happy i am
that you’re still
alive.
