Making peace with love

I am not sweet,
I have of venom, teeth, nails, anger

An so much tenderness,
For when your shoulders fall at the end of a day,
When words pour from your mouth like long since requested rains,

I will drive halfway across the country to take care of you,
Drive you mad with my worry,
I will physically fight your self destruction away,

I will respect your boundaries,
Stand by you on your bad days,
Remind you,
Your are no less worthy for having them,
But I am not sweet,

Sweet is sugar and honey,
But the tea I make for you will be bitter,
The ice I press to your bruised body will always be "too cold",
I will remind you " You'll survive",

I won't write you love poems,
I won't tell you when I think of you,
I won't tell you what you want to hear,

I will compile everything you've ever told me,
File it away,
Lock the folders in a safe,
Bolt the safe to my heart,
And never forget a thing,

I will have bad days,
I will forgive too easily, or not easily enough
I will f u c k up,
A lot,

I have venom, teeth, nails, and anger,

I will forget myself,
Never (really) get the timing right,
An always be clumsy enough to fall,
Even when the ground seems so stable,
it shouldn't be possible,

I will try my hardest all the time,
This will be endearing,
At first,

I will come home calloused hands, bloody knuckles, and all,
I will give you everything I can,
Always because I want to,
Never because I have to,
I will come home tired,
But I will never be too tired,

I may not be sweet,
But you can have all of me,
I wish it was more,
I hope it's enough.

-ERS