What happens over tea

04/25

I’d like to sit down across from you,

a warm drink in our hands.

I’d like to ask,

Where have you been?

And let every word that leaves your mouth be

woven into my skin.

I’d like to know every inch of ground your feet have walked on,

and all the paths your heart has tread

—let the landscape of your life

homogenize with mine.

Where have you been?

Tell me your story,

tell me everything and don’t stop,

and don’t stop,

and don’t stop until

the distance of years is closed

with the closeness of our breath,

the ocean is lost behind us

with the mingling of our voices.

Until the gap in my heart is filled,

and the thrumming in my bones

has quietened,

and my mind makes sense again,

and you are with me

and again, I hold your hand.