CALL ME BELOVED

Take these hands, I’ll show you
the safe places to hold on, how
to work the door handles quietly,
I’ll tell you where to step, and when;
which floorboards won’t creak.

There’s no surefire way to disappear but
I can show you the next best thing –
how you can make yourself so small
that soon, you’ll lose yourself, too –
vanish into the very carpet fibers,
dissolve into dusty HVAC air,
crashing through the vents –
Don’t you wish you could be those plumes
of exhaust steam floating over rooftops?
I’ve never made anybody much warmer,
have you?

Take me by the shoulders. Shake some sense
into me. Strike this face, snap me out of it –
beat my chest and start this heart again,
hard enough to break the ribs – while you
hum some song to keep the right rhythm
whisper all the notes into my ears – help me
learn how to slip away
without being alone.
First me,
then you,
I promise –

I’ll come back for you