Crucible

i’m humbled every day
by how wrong i can be
my body should know by now
i don’t have to be scared with you

maybe it’s an endless process
i have to see where i’m bleeding
so i can cauterize my wounds

it’s not fair to either of us
that your smile transforms me
that a brief taste of your lips
suspends my ability to think
that your hands are the only things that exist
when they grant my skin
the pleasure of their acquaintance

talking or touching now
still feels like that first date at the zoo
brimming with the wild potential
of creatures uncaged

there’s a cold hollow in me
that fills with warmth as i see you
joyfully being shaped by our familiar
or forging something beautiful from your fire
or as the feral intimacy
of shared expression
melts down my fear

burning through the promise of forever
for bursts of incandescence
as we slowly fuse
all i know about love
is that i never stop learning