waking up to your gentle slow smile and insistent warm arms makes the thunderstorm outside irrelevant.

you clasp me to you and you whisper to me that my very identity makes you want me more. I can feel the truth of it in your hands.  we are a smile, slow and deliberate or easy-quick or mischief incarnate.  I love you.  I love you.  this is what I hear when I walk: I love you I love you I love you. my footsteps are quicker when they bring me to you.

when I struggle to stay afloat, you are there; and when I have wounded you, still you are there. always. my rock. my superhero. my necessary illumination.

I love you. I love you.

I love you.