You could be the death of me.

But I was born to know the way

your lips curl when my fingers touch your skin,

Take another drag of your cigarette.

I’ve never truly held the words that people throw out of open mouths,

But I’ll take all those you scatter,

Like pennies on pavements.

How you draw breath when I touch you,

How you hold it when I don’t.

Pencil to paper.

Ashes to smoke.

Touch to skin.

Some say the earth must have a designer,

That the meticulous beauty in nature is evidence,

So allow me to presume,

That if earthquakes and hurricanes,

Tear through the land we call home

We will worship them as they pass,

And build moments not fortresses,

Houses out of sand so when the waves come crashing,

I will feel sea salt and calm in the air

There is beauty in understanding this

And in loving this, there is you.