an echo of when you once
called me a heartless stray,
fold the moment and press it
close to your cheek.
Close your eyes and peel
everything away,
every crease and line
that made me.
Nothing more existed for me then,
I promise that someday I’ll be
something more than love.
If you feel some nocturnal yearning
rise through your skin as if carried
to you by the earth exhaling
one vast warm rush that,
if only for one indelible moment,
resembles the origin of our first touch.
Cling to that as if time has taken shape,
entire seasons and vignettes
your arms could fold around.
Nothing more will breathe in me then
but the promise I made to be
something more than love.
If your heart becomes
the unquiet echo
of a stone falling through
this aromatic valley,
a looping black flight,
the ache of a phantom limb
you never once saw
but felt depart.
Close your eyes and remember
that I forgave you when
you could no longer forgive me.
Nothing more will keep
time in my veins then,
when I promise that someday
I’ll be something more than love.
