You are not another one of my tragedies

Another man I loved once upon a time

You are not an untied ship, drifting slowly into the fog

You are not a story with a sad ending that could have turned out differently, if only…

You are not a story I know how to tell

Because I write tragedies

And you are a steady horizon

You are the sun, rising daily, shining in my eyes each morning

No matter what happened the night before

You are like clockwork with an apology

With an “I was wrong”

With an “I will do better”

You take my hand when I think I’m not allowed to reach for you

You say “I love you” when you’re mad

You ask me what I need

You and I, in a thousand moments of softening what wanted to harden

Of looking for the perfection in the collapse

Of sitting up straight, breathing deep, and learning to listen

Have written a new kind of story

And declared it to be so

And so it is