You gave me reason to believe that
life was more than grief.

You taught me happiness was something I could acquire,
not so far from my desire,
almost close enough to admire.

I remember the way you held me when everything was obscure,
when the sky was empty and even the moon was dimming,
the way stars hid that night afraid of what they might find.

But perhaps that very night the planets aligned,
we became intertwined
in the shared space that kept us enshrined.

Maybe it was the time you saw me naked,
raw in a way that left me shaking,
my bones aching,
my soul breaking.

Still you held me,
because at that moment,
that’s all we were.
Just two souls in a world that forgot it was meant to be pure.

So,
from one soul to another,
I love you like no other,
because you showed me that vulnerability wasn’t weak,
being human wasn’t a sin,
it was something beneath my skin.

So though I am terrified,
I will leap—with hope and with pain that paralyzes,
one that humanizes and sympathizes,
and I will give it to you.

To another soul
who had long forgotten
that life
can be good.