Buppy
"I love you" you say, and I echo it
watching my soul borne raw through the screen
my heart built up through ones and zeroes
we've done this dance countless times
hundreds, thousands, maybe
since we were young
staying up late
with nobody but each other.
When we first met I resisted
steeled myself against you
but you crashed like a wave into me
washed over my grief and sorrow
drowned them in jokes, kind words
and a sense of home I'd never known before.
I didn't know how to love, then
or maybe I just didn't know how to love someone back
who loved me for all the
fucked-up, miserable mess
that I was.
For years I pushed everyone away
believing I deserved to be unhappy
to be alone
(and maybe for a while I did)
but even when I thought I'd succeeded
you never really left.
"Hurt people hurt people"
I said
years later, up late again
dissecting our past like an experiment
peeling back the epicardium
you cradling my four-chambered heart in your hands.
"I know babes" you said, and I cried
because even when we didn't have the words, then
you knew that I loved you, needed us
despite myself
and here we are.
