on being seen

a mention of you and i am

beside myself

cradling the memories of your

demureness, the versatility of you, modest, yet

effervescent when you had to be, i

felt for you what

gravity made others feel

held in place, your grip on me had freed my

inner child, whose innocence had been

jailed from the shackles of society

kept in hiding, i exhumed myself through

loving you, and loving you was the

maiden voyage to loving myself, my

oxygen was returned by you but stolen with every glance

playing with you felt like blinking

quietly, i had crossed out the

ransom notes written on my skin, wanting to be

seen, in all my

totality, you were the one to

unveil me and

validate my soul

with just your touch, the

x's and o's

you once gave

zealously