it is the only way i know

to snap my boughs 

in a storm,

to give up my hiding place

when my heartbeat

has made my cheeks warm,

to set my teeth

when you show me

the place where you hurt,

i’d break myself to fix you

and stop trembling

in return.

i think in the woods

our names are already carved.

you kissed my mouth

the first time

and i realized

that the rest of my life

i had starved. 

you can always be certain

that the heart you fall asleep beside

will be the same in the morning,

the same color

and the same rhythm,

the same blue butterfly,

if you learn the sound of the wings

you can set your watch to it

.

it is a lighthouse,

the shape of your face,

which brings me back

from the labyrinths of sleep.

by the time you wake,

i am already tethered

.

your beauty is alive

even with your eyes closed,

calm as glass

like your neck and your shoulder

were lines on a map.

even then,

your skin is a living mineral,

your features a silent spell,

i am a moth,

dying softly against your lips.

i want to be a season

for you

i want to be the molting of leaves

or the layer of ice

or the windows you leave open.

or if you would let me be the spring

when the whole world parts

with flowers on either side

like you are standing 

in the middle of a tulip field,

the almost symmetry

of the bowing trees

with their heavy blossoms,

something promised

in sky writing

and photographs

of roses that haven’t opened yet.

if i were a season

you would step into it

and change your wardrobe

and you would not make the ending

because you’d know the end was coming

all on its own

like it always does,

just a little at a time.

when you start pressing

the petals in your book

because most of them are on the ground.

when you start rolling your sleeves

back down.

like a sleepwalker

you grab the extra blanket from the closet.

and the season

and the year

and the girl

are gone.

…

i burned all my dresses

from before you

i want to be brand new

didn’t you know this boat of mine

travels in a straight line

to you

…