you’ve been forever a lack,
a hole, an absence
i cannot imagine you,
because i idolize you
i want, so desperately, for you to be
an absence yet constant presence
you lurk, a nagging feeling
an abcess, an itch
and yet i could not seek you out
because a part of me still thinks
we will crash on the street,
or touch hands at the bookstore,
we’ll smile shyly and pass,
gazes will linger
amid flashing lights or buzzing drone,
or elevator music, or raucous home
any way that would seem
like the stars drew our fate
but you can’t argue that from a swipe,
so it scares me, to find you that way
in the pit, the emptiness of my soul
when i should’ve been looking to the ones who fill,
to the excess, to the outpouring
to the ones i know.
you are quiet giggle
confession stuck as it leaves,
weaving through the crowded street
you are late nights texting,
and the last one to put the phone down,
and borrowed shoes for the night or the week,
and fingers gripping my back when we hug
you taught me ‘i love you’ when i leave the car,
and you taught me to face what i truly felt
you taught me it would turn out okay,
and you taught me when to fight back
love is a whole,
tangible and real
i’ll recognize you when i see you
when i know you, it will mean
i was not fixed,
didn’t find my other half
you were never the first,
you will not be the last
we are simply the universe interacting with itself, a tentative touch, a shared breath.
and we must be tender with each other, for we are fragile
and we are real,
and you are real.
and you know yourself best, so you should know best that you are deserving of joy and every delicate softness that you stop to rub your cheek against, to feel that conjoining of two forgiving things.
to know that you can love, wanton and gorgeous, sunlit smile touched by every person who has treated you with care,
and possibly treat someone else with care, too.
you can have everything you want, dear
you only have to know that you deserve it
you only have to forgive yourself
dread has no place in our ecosystem, in our tangled, finite hearts
we are the universe, of the same stardust sprinkled onto fertile soil
we are the universe, nursed and nurtured into our positions
we are the universe, laid gently to rest when we are done
we are the universe, and we can help make it a little more bearable before we take our final bow.
don’t go chasing the rest, darling, because you can care without reciprocation
you can simply love
and it is a vulnerability, yes, but not a weakness
it is not a weakness.