Touch Therapy - 8

5am, 5 gentle ear bites, 5 blinks She needs to tell me what she thinks, twilight tickles my waking heart, She's anxious, in unannounced love, She tells me she's afraid of love, that she had a dreary dream that she could only sing of love leaving, of being a teary widow without warmth, Her nails pressing into my still body, a teardrop splashing onto my skin, with my palm I push the pain back from her wet, troubled cheek and take hold of her firmly with infinity in my eyes firmness on my lips, I tell her knowingly, Your dream is not about love lost, it's about love denied, our love is alive, it's ours, it will survive in our hands... J.A.B. 2023