In this moment, you are all that ever mattered to me.
Dark on light of flesh through tear-filtered eyes,
My hand covering yours as the words escaped;
My heart flew like a monarch from my chest.
The fear had left me; of words, of illness, of emotions
             and consequences and futures and pasts
             all sluiced from me like so much skin shed.
And all of it was, simply, perfect.
I still wear the ring you had thoughtlessly passed to me–
Was it thoughtlessly that you had passed such feelings?
Love and loyalty like a dog’s I gave you.
Heart and health, all I asked of you–
But in the space afterward, I cannot help but wonder,
As I inhale deeply of the cinnamon-scent still lingering
             in my bone-white china cup.
(Your love, ephemeral evaporating steam.)
“I want you…I may very well even love you.
And that means nothing?
That should beat anything.
That should win.”
So this…
This is love.