Ribs

Sometimes I still feel a deep ache in my ribs

From all the times we laughed together, because in the midst

Of all that bone, you managed

To uncover something soft. 

Because you reminded my ribs

Of a purpose they often forget about - that in the midst,

A single red heart still

Beats. Because you defiantly told them -

Hard and unyielding and uncharacteristically

Tough that they are -

That you would find a way in

To the labyrinth and a way out

Holding that soft, vulnerable, larger-than-life,

Beating heart in your hands

Like a refugee you salvaged from war.  

The first time you really know you have a body

Is when it hurts - scrape a knee, break a leg. But instead,

You chose to make me double down and hurt 

With laughter so stupid and real that I think

Even the universe cracked a smile as it watched

In utter wonder of two puny humans

In yellow school uniforms, two yellow 

Grains of salt that had the world tumbling

Out of their mouths. We have all our lives

To hate and resent each other but only an instant

To laugh and to love. So I will be honest with you today:

If you ever choose to come back, come only

To make me laugh. To split my bones open and reveal

Something soft beneath. To remind me what it means

To be tough as well as tender

At once. To crack my ribs in two

With love.