Hold me.

Wrap your thick,

capable arms around me

and without words

ask me not to leave.

Gather me in you

to remember how safe it is here.

Warm.

A fire prepared to combust at the whisper

of breathe into a

neglected contour of skin.

Hold my gaze

and you’ll see even more to feel;

flickering specs of affirmation.

I see you.

See me.

Look for what you know

yet stay intimately curious

at all that unravels in

tender observation.

Hold space for me.

Let me react.

Let me thrash with passion and

cry with want—

softened by your patience

as I try to move from my mind to my heart

and trust that there is no rush

in loving you.

Hold back,

just for a moment.

Collect all that you touch

all that you see

and all that you can admit to want.

Sit with it.

Be provoked.

Be called to feel.

As I learn how to love you,

learn how to receive it.

Take in love not as you

know it to be,

but as it is for us.

And fearlessly hold more tightly

to it.

Relephant Read:

The Words Unspoken. {Poem}

Author: Tiffany Anderson

Apprentice Editor: Elizabeth Brumfield / Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: Flickr