The Effect

Sharing air with you—

blaming you,

wanting you,

feeling safe in your arms.

And yet—

I feel rage.

A distance.

A need to say the things

I keep locked inside.

You do good.

Your hands are kind.

They’ve done no harm.

But they are tired.

I am tired, too.

There was blood.

There was sweat.

There was silence.

I want to scream,

“Why didn’t you…”

But you can’t read my mind.

Before I can leave the room,

you grab my waist,

pull my hair,

kiss my neck.

You intoxicate me—

on my skin, in my breath.

You are silk,

diamond shine,

sugar and sin.

My high.

You toss me gently,

savor me.

I lose control

in the pit of your caress.

Everything I’ve been holding—

disappears.

You save me.

You bring me back to love.

The long nights, the exhaustion—

gone in an instant.

The children we made.

The things I never said.

All of it fading

like the moon at dawn.

I am yours, again and again.

You’ve got a hold on me

the way only soulmates do.

And I wouldn’t want it

any other way.