Alabama

I lay tangled up in beating organs
and wrapped up in your arms,
                your teeth tugging at the oxygen rushing through the veins in my throat.
                                I want to breathe you in

      until my lungs expand
                and you are in my heart.
I begged, please don’t rip it out, bleed until you’re blue,
cough out confessions like “you tasted sweeter”
             or “I’ll miss you when I’m gone”,
                         vanish.

You have magician’s hands,
                      delicate and deliberate-
                the kind that steal breath
          and put my soul at ease, then set it on fire
      as they slowly drag up my sides. They demand shivers course down my spine,
gently guiding them.

Exhale and let me surround you, because you don’t want to go
anymore than I want you to.
                    Blink four times, forget you ever knew me.
Scratch that.
     Remember me forever, hold me in your arms while you sleep,
                                      wake up with my scent still lingering in the air.

I’ll hold you close to me, feel your fingertips grazing mine
and realize that happiness doesn’t have to be sacrificed.