FREEWRITE: I Wake to Tiny Feet
I wake to tiny feet
And long legs
Always perpendicular to my body
But parallel to my heart
And you will grow weary
Of my bad jokes and silly puns
As I grow tired of your always-presence
Though we’ll each miss them when they’re gone.
But now, at seven
You’ve taken up that role of
the bad comedian
Much better than I,
Here at 35,
once was.
So I don’t change your angle anymore
Or carry you to your bed.
Instead I wake and hold your feet in my hands
As they dig mercilessly into the flesh of my lower back
I’ll turn–
shift in the sliver of bed your body has spared me
And stare at you.
The pool of drool drying on my good sheets
With streaks of marker up and down your freshly tanned arms
Mixing like watercolored rainbows
Staining everything.
I stare and know if I dare to touch your cheek
You will wake and leave me
Or eat my stash of chocolate
And then go.
So I keep the short distance of your legs between us
And love you here,
More than I’ve ever loved you
Enough to take the blows
And honor the distance.