The Workshop

I spoke 
my claim 
with quiet 
reverence 
For our 
words are
the workshop 
where we 
flat then burnish 
each others souls
I met her gaze
through my 
unbroken azure
Finding no
deception 
but rather
a woman forged 
by fire
* 
	For previously 
	she had 
	seen and felt 
	deeply 
	as her heart
	had been 
	ignored
	disrespected
	trampled 
	her devotion 
	returned as 
	silence or 
	worse still 
	cruelty
  *
Yet now 
she is  
no longer 
hunted and haunted 
by shadows
of the past
Our sharp
edges now softened
For the first time 
the future
didn’t scare us
Leaning into
breathy silence
I watched
a new language 
the language of love 
form on our lips
one we both
wanted to learn