By Donna

I want to gently
break you
open
cause
there is something inside
you are hiding from me.
Is all this because
of that thing that
happened when you
were 7 or 8?
Forgive me—
I forget the age
and still sketchy on the
details you gave.
I don’t want
to keep asking
who and why;
I’ve seen your soul vanish
in the retelling.
But something is amiss
as the years pile up
and I begin to see
or specifically—
I’m seeing you;
different to me
North to my South,
Cotton candy to
hard red swirl marbles,
the cold that quails
in my heat.
I miss the you
I’ve been waiting
to know.
All that you are
I want to see.
Reveal it
and
let me decide.