If Only For a While

I will wash your hands

and when toothpaste foam seeps from the corners of your mouth

I will still kiss you.

As we await bad news,

I will be the shoulder for your head.

I see you bare and

still, I plant myself here—

Although these cliffs are ragged

and the tops of your hurt are frozen over,

I am a climber, but even if I weren’t,

I can fly, but even if I couldn’t,

I’ve grown myself a coat of fur.

Eat these berries that the sun has sweetened for you

and let us just sit here

because I cannot play thumb of war alone,

there is no lifeguard at the post on the lake,

a letter must have a receiver—

Be my witness and I

will be yours.