Here With You (Revised)

Because how else

The story of this poem: I wrote the first draft during a time when I was feeling the first fizzy feelings of a new crush that seemed to be reciprocated, but wasn’t yet spoken aloud. Below is a revision.

HERE WITH YOU

I am sitting here with you,
Because how else would our hands meet?
How else could I see the truth?
Who else could ever make me feel this alive?
What else could join our lips like glue?
Riverbanks barely hold the waters into which 
You dive.
There is no other nation
My body would choose
In which to sink down its strong roots.

I am sitting here with you,
So thoroughly consumed,
So captured, as minutes twist.
The only screen time I crave is your kind eyes:
It’s the light between them
That makes me gorgeous.
This scene with you:
I could gorge on it,
That’s my wish.
I could mainline your deep kiss,
But I want a hundred years,
So moderation it is. 
 
I am sitting here with you,
Toes splashing the oasis.
There is shade in this place,
And all these fruit trees with branches aching
Cannot be wrong in their scent.
Just for a moment,
We ravage nectarines that drip,
Then it’s back on the floor:
My hands on your shoulders,
Yours on my hips.
Four on the floor drops hard
And you tighten your grip.

I am sitting here with you,
Only because our feet
Are exhausted from adventure,
Only because we turned
Every stone in the world.
Elders all screamed that the land had burned,
But we had to see for ourselves,
We had to be sure. 

For an afternoon moment or two,
We share a pot of tea,
Fresh-brewed,
Before we burst back through the door
To run wild and eat the sunset view.