the shadows speak
from the corners of my eyes
and i feel you there
like sunlight breaking through trees
the way you glisten unexpectedly
a smile that lingers too long in my mind
the kind that catches me off guard
and leaves me stopping
in the middle of a sentence
we gather stones
just to stack them carefully
building walls
building rooms
building houses
hoping they become homes
i look at the idea of us
because right now
it is only an idea
and ideas are dangerous things
i take them
i shape them
i give them meaning
until they become larger
than what they were meant to be
i take you in fragments
small moments
passing expressions
half-finished conversations
the way we twist together
on soft surfaces of memory
the way comfort arrives quietly
before either of us notices
i exist for moments like this
to touch you
right now
in this exact moment
would be chaos
because longing has a way
of making simple things feel enormous
i long for your hand against mine
the certainty of a grip returned
to hold you delicately
like feathers caught in a breeze
the light touch of something precious
against the curve of your neck
just two people
one heartbeat
one moment
inside a world where it suddenly feels
like everything matters
because what is this life
without meaning
what is love
without something larger
than ourselves to reach toward
we exist as two
yet i stand here
singing you a song anyway
asking you to watch
asking you to listen
but i have learned something
the idea of convincing someone
to stay
to choose
to take a chance
is not always a game worth playing
because a man who stands and asks
is different from a man who stands and listens
one reaches outward
the other pays attention
and attention
has always felt more honest to me
we accept who we are
i accept who i am
and i accepted who you were
the touch
the meaning
the feeling
the brief collision of two lives
sharing space for a while
i stand here now
at the edge of myself
waiting for time
with arms still open
because every embrace
every connection
every beautiful thing
can only be held for so long
and maybe that is what makes it beautiful
not that it lasts forever
but that for a moment
it was here at all