i pause there

where my fingertips rest
against the quiet drum
inside your wrist

your mouth edits
everything you carry
so no one has to help you hold it

your pulse is never careful

it tells me everything

it races the same
toward me
and away

a body cannot tell you
which fear it is keeping

it only knows
to hold tighter
when something precious
can be lost

that is what love becomes
after enough truth

a body
that knows what it stands to lose

and keeps beating anyway

your heartbeat gives you away
before your eyes ever could

and i keep my hand there
to feel it answer mine

because i would rather hold
the fear that lives inside your love

now there is a heartbeat
i could lose

i know what the quiet one means

i have carried that pulse
inside myself too

so pulse

give us both away

i would rather love
with something to lose

than be untouched
by the fear
of going still