the sweetness of almost

if loving you is my undoing

then let every careful version of myself fall away
like evening surrendering
the last warmth of sunlight to your skin

leave your breath lingering against my soul
until every forgotten corner of me
begins remembering your touch

come close enough that even silence forgets
the name it refused to lose
and every heartbeat
becomes another quiet invitation to remain

let me discover
how beautifully a life can unravel
when it is held by hands that never needed to possess it

i want to meet the part of you
that only appears when the whole world has stopped watching

to kneel before you
and become the prayer even a priest would envy

because, my dear,
i suspect eternity was never hidden in heaven at all

only in the unbearable sweetness
of never quite reaching the end of your embrace

　

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A small note. Some of you may notice this reads a little differently to my usual work. That's not accidental. For quite a while now I've been quietly experimenting with longer forms, different rhythms and a more conversational voice. Some of the recent Notes have been testing grounds for that without me really saying so. This feels like the first piece where those threads have come together.

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If you’ve been enjoying my poems and stories, this is a gentle invitation to step a little closer.

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Something more poetry from me?

or maybe an essay on what happens before any words are written

Nothing truly leaves — it only changes how it stays.

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All artwork courtesy of NDjin Gallery