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CATCHING BUBBLES
By Christie R Fremon
Christie R Fremon Catching Bubbles: Text
I.
You hold it gently
A small bubble of disappointment
Observing it
Careful not to break its skin
“It’s gone.”
You explain quickly,
“The surprise. When I think of you,
Or see your face,
The surprise at how much I love you—
It’s gone.
I’m not surprised anymore.”
You touch me, gently,
Holding me,
Careful not to break my skin.
Moments later,
You glance at me,
While you are rising up, buoyant,
Mid step and mid thought,
Your lips, formed around an ephemeral O,
break into a smile.
Your words burst through
The delight on your face.
“It’s still there!”
II.
Those moments of surprise,
Transcendent and shining,
Are rare.
Sometimes when the morning light
Catches us blinking awake
I see you
And I love
I love
I love
the way I love you
I try to hold each moment
like trying to hold my breath
The feeling of inhaling
And drawing in more love
Than my lungs can hold
Than my heart can hold
I cherish you for as long as I can
And then let go
Before cherishing you again
III.
The last few months have not been gentle.
The world seems to always try to find
New ways to break the skin.
The light is outside,
While we shelter apart.
I wonder how I will surprise you,
When most days you can’t even see me.
And when I do see you, we are both spent.
I try to hold you
and my disappointment
gently.
I observe it.
Try not to think about the roses I haven’t given you,
Or the dinners we haven’t been to,
Or the times we haven’t flirted,
The spas we haven’t visited,
The small gestures we haven’t made.
“It’s gone.”
I explain.
I cannot even touch you.
And then—
then!—
you surprise me.
You tell me about the stories we’ve woven together
The patterns we’ve built
And the experiences we’ve had
Still have
Will have
We’re still here!
And I see you
Haloed in fractal rainbows
Shining and ephemeral and rare
And I realize in one blinking moment
That I love you
I love you
I love you
Christie R Fremon Catching Bubbles: Text
© 2020 by Christie R Fremon
Christie R Fremon Catching Bubbles: Text
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