climbing the rocks to a beach as the sun goes down, the way i keep going down into you
slow, then all at once, then gone, until only my eyes remember the light
the beach holding our footprints for a brief breath then taking them back
and i think to myself this is love: it lets go of everything, keeps nothing and loses none of it
the ice cream melting in our hands, drops on our clothes
we forget everything, we are late for a life that is waiting somewhere
and being late with you feels more on time than any clock i have obeyed
you looked at me until i was naked
and i was already naked, so what came off
my second skin, the one i wear even when i wear nothing
you peeled that away and looked underneath and i did not run
i held your hands, wrinkled from the water, small pruned rivers of you
and i loved them more than any smooth thing the world sells as beautiful
they had hardened, they had stayed in the deep too long the way you always do?
i am completely unafraid and i am trembling
i want you all the way inside and i am practicing the goodbye at the same table
this is not a contradiction, this is the only honest posture love allows
open hand, open hand, open hand, and the bird stays
time went so slow on those walks that i fell behind it
now i am running to catch a moment that has already happened
the strange question is: it is still happening
