more than a year ago
i checked on the pot of boiled water
that held our friendship,
initiated by your simmering presence
which brought me a grand comfort
in the distraught desert of my mind

deprived of love—
the nurturing kind—
i fled into the forest
the opposite to you
but i appear
still attached

my smile faded
in the days since
the days we’ve spent away
the faint familiarity of your warmth
weighing upon my aches
of my bleakest days
did i provide the same?
a bandaged exchange
of our pains that would one day fade
and grow anew in a fabric of adulthood
the smothering type
one so misunderstood

yet your warmth would sparkle
crackle and pop
as a lingering notion to reiterate
it will all be okay

the cold frightens me—
as does the bleak nighttime—
so i took a likening to your hot-tempered mind
our similar demeanors
edgy and eager
in youthfulness and frustrations
our dissatisfactions
with the tendencies of our minds
to get off on such caffeinated highs

oops

the poke of a cactus
in the veil of our youth
drained the gloom
of our bloody attitudes
it was addicting and new
fevered and blue
so misunderstood

the drawing of liquid
a bodily downpour
set alight your eyes
in a pyromaniac delight
an intrigue of desire,
what else could set a spark such a fire?
i’d ask you to burn this town
but you burn me with every touch
so i let the rush take you away
and let the numbness cave inward
as the bustle of city
left me stranded in an unfamiliar alley

i send my love across the country
to carry with you in endless bounty
the support and kinship,
funded in our compatible temperament
has since been kindled and guided
to an eternal understanding,
which you are so deserving

the giggle that glistens
between your teeth so keenly
the wide eyes and messiness
of your glasses falling smoothly

the hair misshapen 
by your depressive naps
the anxious aura
that you know as a second skin
all boils to an air as gay as the winter
and burns a smile on my face
implicating such a genuine scar—
one which i am accepting,
as it hinders my heart to know you further

i am thankful for you
apart or together
i am thankful for you
for now,

for forever