Don't run

Don't run.
Don't let the locusts in your chest
Anguish you away

My mouth is not an open hole
Waiting to swallow you

I am open in my laugh
Closed in my sleep
Lacing patterns of breath in between

I might catch you in my teeth
For a second but I will breathe
You out gently as soon as I realize

You will not rot
In me
I do not want you still
I want the heat of our breathes to push against each other, against thunder
Into before storm sweat

I want you gentle, but moving
In yourself and unafraid
Of me, at least

Don't run
I don't dream your nightmares
Your fear does not smell like me
I am not your measure of yourself or your hopes


I am skin with its own dreams
Bones with their own hope
Feet with many directions
Breath that sinks while searching
Up

A being of mist and mercy,
Fear and fantasy
Running and rest

My hand is through my hair,
Over my face,
Searching the sky
Touching yours gently

Don't run.