I am mesmerized by you,
following your smile to the end of myself—
I feel it building.

Unlike a past too unkind,
I find peace in the nerves,
in the waiting.

You have changed me.
Yesterday, I was weighed down by stress,
walking on eggshells around people
who never cared to know me—
let alone see me as you do.

To be seen—
that is something else entirely.
To be cared for before being held,
to be cherished before touch—
that is...