So You Know How To Find Me

 

 

Are you not afraid to love me?

as i fit my palm against your heart.

Do you not fear my tenderness?

as i begin to love the parts of you

that you do not.

 

For there is no version of my heart

that weakens as i learn your name,

and though i do not fear you

perhaps it is my failure to speak to you this way.

 

So i shall make in my heart a constant revelation

that you are very close nearby.

i shall make of my love a deadly innovation

that your soul desires mine.

 

i shall tend my body to the fields, and to the grass

i shall speak with the birds who know you best

and carry always a sparrow in my breast

so when you see the bird you recognize my chest

and in a patient love, somewhat at its own behest,

our bodies shall meet

at our soul’s address.

 

Know that i would like to suckle cherries

through your evening skin,

for when i see your art i do not feel misshapen;

my lungs fill up with wet green leaves

and slow the wish within.

 

Not now in these words, nor now in my mind,

but in your chest my love resides.

and though i cannot touch your cheek

with my hand as i write

nor look now into your reading eyes,

i know, one day, you’ll walk somewhere

and i will walk beside.