“Taking a new step, uttering a new word, is what people fear most.”—Dostoyevsky

“I’ve got to help my body feel my soul.”—Violent Femmes

In the dark, nothing else matters.

Just the steady breathing of you next to me and the lull of your beating heart rocking me to sleep.

**

“Quiet.” Lips press against another.

“Stop it.” Shoulders being pushed away.

“More.” Hand on exposed skin.

“I can’t.” A head turns.

**

This adventure is what makes life livable.

If we fight, we will reconcile.

If we hate, we can love.

Don’t try to walk away from this, I say.

But you’re not walking.

You’re running.

**

Anger is just the wall standing in our way.

One day I will break it down.

**

I am relentless.

You question my pursuit.

Why me?

I’ll tell you why.

**

In the beginning there was only one. Me.

I woke up alone. I ate alone. I drank alone. I slept alone.

I was alone.

When you entered my life, there was two. You and me.

I woke up. I ate. I drank. I slept.

All for you.

I wasn’t alone.

**

That’s why.

**

I skate around you in circles. You follow me with your eyes, standing in place.

Move, I say.

You don’t.

Move, I say.

I go in circles to get you in my arms.

Move.

Move.

I stop.

We stare at each other.

I understand now.

You move when I cannot.

Because where I end you begin.

You move into me.

**

There’s a vibration coming from inside me. It gets stronger with each breath I take of you.

You ask if I am scared.

The trembling inside only grows. Is this what fear feels like?

You touch me and I quietly waver into the palm of your hands.

**

And when the new day starts, when the golden rays spill out into the horizon, everything suddenly matters.

There are questions I can’t answer. There are answers you can’t question.

**

I want to lock away the sunshine. Keep you with me by moonlight.

In the dark, nothing else matters.