Chance encounter—
two mirrors gazing backward
through darkened direction,
tarnished by old apologies.
An unrealized decision
to break together,
to share a chronic, conditioned courage
to finish what was assigned.
Stripped bare, exposing the very bones
that feigned strength out of habit,
brittled by the gift of misery.
Two minds touching at buried corners,
sealed by those who offered comfort yet withheld it.
Hands callused by years, hungry for tenderness,
now velvet, now familiar.
Uniting two souls
long chained inside the same narrow space.
Passion layering healing tranquility
over undiscovered worth—
an explosion of desperate compassion.
Bodies entangled
in full understanding of everything stolen.
A silent promise: never again unwhole.
Arms that soothed hearts
battered raw by forced commitment.
Love freshly bloomed
through recognition of carried pains.
Wounds smothered beneath lips
freely offering the kiss of life.
The discovery of something never dared imagine—
because hope had always been dangerous—
the final relinquishing of control
once tethered to the words of others.