if older means wiser,
it means mostly that i have learned who i am
and what i can give, the promise
i can actually make to you:
the promise of myself, as i am, whole and wholly.
i can make you a promise of heat and desire,
the way my body aches for you,
the fierce beat of my heart
even on cold nights. i can make you a promise
of strength, and continuity, and fluidity:
where maybe i have lost some resilience,
i have replaced it with iron
and concrete, i am stronger even than stress.
i can promise future:
that the family we make will be beautiful,
and lyrically complicated,
that you will never have an empty house,
that when you are old i will be old with you.
so when i come with empty hands
and stretch for your mouth
and your dark eyes and your solid shoulders,
know that i do not come barren.
i come laden with promise, with proof, with love.