Beloved

Time calls to speak my heart.

My voice trembles,

coming out as a whisper

yet, there's a need to quell the pain

of this unsettling silence.

Ah, my cowardice

makes a wreck out of me.

Look here, Dear,

I need you to see me.

I stand before you, broken,

lost,

fragile,

exposed and vulnerable,

but hopeful and resolute.

I am fading and time is the enemy,

as moments slip and slide

around this nowhereland

of a life

lived only in my mind's eye.

Listen, if you will, as I put name

to that which is felt -- love, desire --

all so foolish, yet as real as the ground beneath me.

I now take refuge

in the peace and freedom

offered from reckoning with the truth.

My raised, offered hand

rests still in the space between us --

an invitation for you to come near.

Come close, My Dear, feel my movement

and let us dance through the impossible.

I stand here, ready,

for choice and change merely hoping for reciprocity.

Be it not given,

I will remain across our divide,

grateful for a life shared,

somehow connected,

as I look from a distance and see your beauty,

as I say,

with a thousand loving eyes.