07-11-2019, 11:00 PM
I look at you with new eyes
like the first time I saw you was last night in my bed your broad shoulder catching the corner of the sheet as you drifted to sleep
like I've never woken up to the sound of your breathing
heavy and slow in the dark or seen you step
glistening from the shower, casually stretching your calves in the pale morning light f
a smile my way when you catch me staring at the drops sliding down your chest.
I look at you with new eyes
still searching your face when you talk
soaking in your voice
pressing your words and expressions carefully into the pages of my memory like wildflowers
and when you laugh it's like waking up in a
new country where outside the window an animal you've never heard calls out to its mate the sound rolling
effortlessly from its throat
so completely foreign that it catches you off guard
makes you hold your breath a moment so each note resonates perfectly
that is how your laugh enters my head
a little thrill each time and I think
dear God did I make that happen and
you don't even know
you just keep talking while my heart stops and restarts
I look at you with new eyes
as you drive away to work and come home each day
sweaty and brown from the sun
melting into my arms
kissing me softly, unpacking your lunch bag and
I can't believe how
nonchalant you are
improbably you are mine
and it's all so normal and utterly
unimpressive to you
I see you with new eyes and you
don't see me at all
don't realize I could be gone like a
whisper gone
violently, instantly gone
quietly, silently
like that day you called me to the patio door because the sunrise was deep orange and magenta and you
draped an arm across my shoulder and
nodded at the horizon and
the color swelled and disappeared in the space of one breath leaving a
deep purple bruise under the bright yellow sun as it crested over the trees
still beautiful but
nothing we were going to stand around watching in our pajamas
I search your face for signs of awareness for the
love and fear
I feel when I look at you but
your jaw is lax
your brow smooth unfurling softly
bent only by a wry smile as you tease me for being clumsy or
chuckle gently at the tears that well up in my eyes because some boy in the news found his dog that was lost
for an entire year
I search your face but all I find is
ease
not even a ripple in your endless irises so dark and still that your pupils are
swallowed up in their depths
You wake up and it's the
hundredth thousandth millionth morning and it's the same as before and it's
exactly how you thought it would be
I'm asleep half balled up under our
gray and yellow patterned quilt and
you wonder if the alarm will wake me first or the sound of the water bouncing off the shower wall or the
clink of the door as you step out scrubbed clean into another day
you brush your teeth and pull on a fresh pair of shorts
you see me stir and set your soft lips on mine
good morning
the feel of my mouth is just like last night and yesterday morning and
years ago when you leaned into me and
graced me with your affection for the
first time
your breath on my cheek warm and smooth
You look at me with old eyes as you
eat the breakfast I made you, three eggs and oatmeal
sitting in that same chair
quiet in your own thoughts
you put your work boots on right where you left them on the plastic tray by the dryer and
gather your lunch and the Gatorade I mixed up in your thermos with
eight ice cubes only because
you don't like your drinks too cold
you back down the driveway with your bucket of tools in the
crisp morning air the white rock
crumbling beneath the tires as you drive away the
last smile fading from your lips after the
one two three little kisses you left with me
You look at me with old eyes as you
step into the mud room after a long day
closing the heat behind the door
escaping into the cool familiar air of the home we share and
kiss me your hand barely settling on my shoulder
running down my arm
you thank me for dinner and we
call out answers to Wheel of Fortune
worry over the news
laugh at the weather forecaster with his impossibly pale shiny head as he predicts tomorrow's
highs and lows with very little certainty
you stretch your arms wide taking up
too much space
inviting me in close for a moment of rest
my skin tingles and my lungs swell with a sharp breath as your heartbeat thuds in my ear but
you hardly notice
with your chin and cheek pressed gently against my head
your fingertips stroking my hair in
unconscious little waves
You look at me with old eyes like
everything we are always was and
always will be
I survey every bright field and shadowy corner of your world
but there is no fear in you
you are stubborn
steadfast adamantly
unafraid
I tunnel into you searching for a sign that
you see me new but
your old eyes stare back at me
unfazed
I see you with new eyes every day the
flames of your love bursting forth at me
crackling and stretching towards the sky
like that bonfire we built so tall and hot we thought it might
reach the cottonwood and
wilt its leaves
you look back at me with old eyes
my love for you
low and warm
settled into you like the
embers we leave burning
nestled on heaps of powdery ash in a ring of concrete blocks after
long nights on the patio
laughing with friends
our voices mingling with the
fireflies and darkness
like the first time I saw you was last night in my bed your broad shoulder catching the corner of the sheet as you drifted to sleep
like I've never woken up to the sound of your breathing
heavy and slow in the dark or seen you step
glistening from the shower, casually stretching your calves in the pale morning light f
a smile my way when you catch me staring at the drops sliding down your chest.
I look at you with new eyes
still searching your face when you talk
soaking in your voice
pressing your words and expressions carefully into the pages of my memory like wildflowers
and when you laugh it's like waking up in a
new country where outside the window an animal you've never heard calls out to its mate the sound rolling
effortlessly from its throat
so completely foreign that it catches you off guard
makes you hold your breath a moment so each note resonates perfectly
that is how your laugh enters my head
a little thrill each time and I think
dear God did I make that happen and
you don't even know
you just keep talking while my heart stops and restarts
I look at you with new eyes
as you drive away to work and come home each day
sweaty and brown from the sun
melting into my arms
kissing me softly, unpacking your lunch bag and
I can't believe how
nonchalant you are
improbably you are mine
and it's all so normal and utterly
unimpressive to you
I see you with new eyes and you
don't see me at all
don't realize I could be gone like a
whisper gone
violently, instantly gone
quietly, silently
like that day you called me to the patio door because the sunrise was deep orange and magenta and you
draped an arm across my shoulder and
nodded at the horizon and
the color swelled and disappeared in the space of one breath leaving a
deep purple bruise under the bright yellow sun as it crested over the trees
still beautiful but
nothing we were going to stand around watching in our pajamas
I search your face for signs of awareness for the
love and fear
I feel when I look at you but
your jaw is lax
your brow smooth unfurling softly
bent only by a wry smile as you tease me for being clumsy or
chuckle gently at the tears that well up in my eyes because some boy in the news found his dog that was lost
for an entire year
I search your face but all I find is
ease
not even a ripple in your endless irises so dark and still that your pupils are
swallowed up in their depths
You wake up and it's the
hundredth thousandth millionth morning and it's the same as before and it's
exactly how you thought it would be
I'm asleep half balled up under our
gray and yellow patterned quilt and
you wonder if the alarm will wake me first or the sound of the water bouncing off the shower wall or the
clink of the door as you step out scrubbed clean into another day
you brush your teeth and pull on a fresh pair of shorts
you see me stir and set your soft lips on mine
good morning
the feel of my mouth is just like last night and yesterday morning and
years ago when you leaned into me and
graced me with your affection for the
first time
your breath on my cheek warm and smooth
You look at me with old eyes as you
eat the breakfast I made you, three eggs and oatmeal
sitting in that same chair
quiet in your own thoughts
you put your work boots on right where you left them on the plastic tray by the dryer and
gather your lunch and the Gatorade I mixed up in your thermos with
eight ice cubes only because
you don't like your drinks too cold
you back down the driveway with your bucket of tools in the
crisp morning air the white rock
crumbling beneath the tires as you drive away the
last smile fading from your lips after the
one two three little kisses you left with me
You look at me with old eyes as you
step into the mud room after a long day
closing the heat behind the door
escaping into the cool familiar air of the home we share and
kiss me your hand barely settling on my shoulder
running down my arm
you thank me for dinner and we
call out answers to Wheel of Fortune
worry over the news
laugh at the weather forecaster with his impossibly pale shiny head as he predicts tomorrow's
highs and lows with very little certainty
you stretch your arms wide taking up
too much space
inviting me in close for a moment of rest
my skin tingles and my lungs swell with a sharp breath as your heartbeat thuds in my ear but
you hardly notice
with your chin and cheek pressed gently against my head
your fingertips stroking my hair in
unconscious little waves
You look at me with old eyes like
everything we are always was and
always will be
I survey every bright field and shadowy corner of your world
but there is no fear in you
you are stubborn
steadfast adamantly
unafraid
I tunnel into you searching for a sign that
you see me new but
your old eyes stare back at me
unfazed
I see you with new eyes every day the
flames of your love bursting forth at me
crackling and stretching towards the sky
like that bonfire we built so tall and hot we thought it might
reach the cottonwood and
wilt its leaves
you look back at me with old eyes
my love for you
low and warm
settled into you like the
embers we leave burning
nestled on heaps of powdery ash in a ring of concrete blocks after
long nights on the patio
laughing with friends
our voices mingling with the
fireflies and darkness