Still air breaks under my breath

As you join me on the mattress 

Knee to knee 

Face to face

You level your gaze

And wait,

the embodiment of patience

and kindness

The antithesis 

of everything I fear

And I know it’s safe

I rip the snarled storms

From my blood

And let them go

Wherever fear goes

When it creeps from dark corners 

and is thrust into light

under your focus

your kindness

I collapse

My head in your lap,

hands spanning your thighs

You stroke my hair

Speaking as you do

Softly 

Calmly

and you confess

my unvoiced confessions

as your own

Laughter bursts from my chest

—the absurdity of it all—

I sit up, lightheaded and weak,

And run my fingers over your

Rough, hollowed cheeks

The line of your jaw,

And thumb the rim of your lower lip

Here we are

Worlds away from the children

we were,

Life chapped and twisted

Yet somehow

Here

Knee to knee

Face to face

We’re at the beginning