my heart

you take my heart and clench it between your palms and wring it out.

it’s excruciating,
and somehow exactly what i need.

because for so long,
my heart has been oversaturated,
drowning in empty promises
and leftover love
from people who came to stay,
whose fingerprints lingered long after them,
pressed into the surfaces of my existence.

but you—

you arrived without an inheritance
for me to carry.

and the lightness of you
felt suspicious in my heart.

i had only known love
as something inherited already heavy,
it's history folded into mine
before i knew where one ended
and the other began.

so please forgive my panic.

it’s been forever
since my heart held only its own weight.

i have only ever known love
by what it asked of me to hold.

and you,

you take my past,
and liquefy it between your palms,
wringing years from the fabric of me
until every remnant runs weightless
through your fingers.

and in the best way,
you squeeze me until i am small.
you squeeze me until i am empty.

and i have never felt so full.