precious

everything you are–
breath held or
whispered–is foreign & distant,
almost vague.

take it in, run it through
blood vessels like rivers
always flowing
(your breath),
unfelt here.
longed for here.

take it in without a thought
let it out without asking,
who thinks of my breath tonight?
whose pillow lies cold one more night
without it?
whose hair is not rustled by the breeze of my sleeping mouth?

and any gust that curls across the gulf feels like an exhale, precious
tossed from your body a thousand times a day.
your foreign, distant vague form
such a contrast to the stark shoreline
that so abruptly divides your breath from mine.