lest I reach
across the dark
chasing shadows
chasing you
lest I fall
without permission
to be saved
when I speak
of longing scattered
by years
wherein we lay –
might you wonder
of a promised
one more day

lest I sleep
and give our story
to sheets
they never tell
of the ways I came
nights I prayed
for this
lest I dream
and no one notice
what was left behind
of me –
lest my truth be lost
to words
beyond my need

. . .