sun

i once heard of the one who swallowed the sun they spoke of it like it was something bad something to be feared yet somehow something revered a two-sided coin a double-edged sword and so i feared people who shone so bright the sun must have lived in their lungs who had an aura made of plasma i ran away from boys so radiant they hurt my eyes i ran away from girls so aglow the sky turned yellow around them i ran away until it was just me alone in the dark and then i met her and i was blinded by a light so blazing i would have been foolish to continue to look her way but i could not tear my eyes off her shining skin fiery cheeks skin so warm proof of the life within her proof of the sun within her and so i stayed i touched her skin to mine let her warm my flesh allowed her in my mind told me to run my heart told me to stay and so i opened the space in my chest so long vacant cobwebs had formed i let her in let her touch me as i had not been touched in years a void a part of me missing i had not even realized she made a home behind my sternum between my lungs in every liter of my blood and i like to think as i lay beside her at night that my body is warmer than it was when i met her