my best friend, my lover

“I write to you like a lover
but we have never been in love.
Three AM and I’m sending snapshots
of my heart because you are the only one
who isn’t afraid to look at them.
Sometimes we kiss for no reason.
Sometimes I go crawling into your bed
because I need a space to belong to
and your hands are steadier
than mine have ever been.
Sometimes you get lost
and you wind up on my doorstep,
but it’s okay—
you’re always welcome here.
I tell you all the secrets I’ve been
keeping from myself while you
peel apart at the edges and admit
to all the soft things you pretend
you don’t know how to feel.
We understand each other, here.
My sheets know all our demons.
We don’t touch like that in the daytime,
but at night you are all hands
and I am all teeth
and we are a double-hinged door
slammed open by the wind.
We work that way.
It’s easy as breathing:
two kindred souls wrapped up together,
settled in for the night,
sharing the same skin.”