This Love, Soft to Touch

Gentle lover, I never understood romance this way before

Always used to scoff at love poems until I recited them to you

In the quiet haze of early mornings, when we were somehow still awake

Even after you left, I smelt your lavender perfume on the sheets

And, god, I never knew what intimacy was until I met you

Like honey dripping off my tongue

Your fingertips rising up my spine

I used to mistake pain for authenticity,

Used to scrape by with bruised knees and bloodied knuckles

The other girls bit into me with barbed wire lips and broken glass teeth

But not you, you who are a living embodiment of balance and rediscovery

There is so much radiance within you, so much light you give this world

I have memorized the freckles on your shoulders and the soft curl of your hair

Tender lover, you have taught me how to be soft again

Taught me how to forgive myself for all the ways I used to hate

There is so much healing in your kiss

You’ve shown me that this life is resilient, but if only embrace it

You make these days feel like gifts I do not deserve

We’ve learned to call this love, in its kindest simplicity