what i choose

there is something in the lying next to you that brings me the entire universe. how can i, then, find words to describe how this is so, for in choosing some words over others, eliminating what i do not choose means missing part of what you bring to me. you are the world. you are everything. to say this i need every word i know and all those i do not.

there is something in the quiet darkness while you sleep that awakens all of me and in the stillness your presence becomes larger still.

i breathe your scent and taste your breath and you are inside me, filling me. there is something in lying in your arms that enfolds me in the earth and something in being next to your thigh that makes my world secure.

sometimes in the darkness even while you sleep you reach for me, pulling me to you and holding me as though you will never let me go. this becomes my peace.

some would ask for words and even others seek gifts the world would claim as treasures rare. but i, i seek the greatest gift, and that of you with me in the darkness, in the stillness, in the quiet.

photography by permission cindy lee jones