Mi vida

The first love of my life never saw me naked. There was always a parent coming home in a half hour, Always a little brother in the next room, always too much body and not enough time for me to show her. Instead I gave her my elbow, the bend of my knee, I lent her my corners, my edges the parts of me I could afford to offer. The parts I long since given up trying to hide. She never asked for more, she gave me back her eyelashes, the back of her neck, her palms. We held each piece we were given like it was a nectarine, might bruise it if we weren't careful. we collected them like we were trying to build an orchard. And the places she never saw, the ones my parents have labeled private parts, when I was still small enough to fit all myself and worry inside a bathtub. I made up for them by handing over all the private, parts of me. There was no secret I didn't tell her, there was no moment we didn't share, we didn't grow up, we grew in like ivy rapping molding each other into perfect yin's and yang's. we kissed with our mouths open, breathing her exhale into my inhale and back. We could have survived underwater or outer space, living only off the breath we traded, we spelled love G.I.V.E