Damp hands press hard into the glass
Pushing like a mother birthing her first child
Clumsy and forceful
Sweat beads under the soft tuft of fringe above creased brow
Heart muscles flex and strain
A drumming beat through pain in the gut
I can see her on the other side
Eying me dimly through the glass
Denim clinging loosely to softening skin clothed with Chucks
and plaid
She is an echo of time slipping away
Gentle eyes greying with the guilt that comes with age
The honey of hope sticky on her lips
The weight of history heavy on shoulders and inside the
knees
We reach for each other with cartilage clicking in the
joints
Through gritted teeth and abdominal groans
I hear the rhythmic snapping of fingers
Like a Broadway musical cuing our song
Voices reaching into the fear
Of this mirror
With its splintering shards and bone breaking covenants
Made of fanciful dreaming and nightmare possibilities
Body pressed against body
The reality of today staring back at us
Through yester-tears and tomorrow’s sure sorrow
Eyes laughing -- tender and full
An invitation into an other’s darkness
A bleeding of self, seeping toward the light
Being intertwined with you
Is like the pain of a second birth
A returning home to begin anew
