Erin Klee

 

 

fragments

 

 

of an intended life
whispered to an absent lover

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter:  “Then”

 

 

Then:  I’m trembling with you in afterglow; you drape across my skin from breast to thigh.  Your torso rises and falls with every breath.  Then quicker, jerky, rising falls – shaking me, shaking you – I’m crying and I don’t know why.

I try to hide but you still see.  You don’t leave.  You draw me close to you.

Embarrassed:  I try to explain that I don’t know what I feel – don’t understand why I’m crying, I’m so happy in this moment, so senselessly in love that I can barely speak when I lose words in the blue of your eyes… and still you hear me, stroking my wet cheek with such a tender touch.

Finally, you whisper our realization:  You cry because I’m in love with you.

And I do.