I can taste the words

“I love you”

in the sweat that drips from his nose to my mouth

as he lingers above my body. 

 

I can smell the words

“I love you”

in the ink on his fingers that smudges my skin

as he comes home to me finally.

 

I can see the words

“I love you”

in the smile that draws at his lips and his eyes

as he laughs at my words.

 

I can feel the words

“I love you”

in the ridges of his muscle under my fingers

as he embraces me tightly. 

 

I cannot hear the words

“I love you”

until it is too late.

The water has rushed through my mouth and my nose and my ears and my eyes

and my nerves have long since given out.

 

I linger in his shadow as he decrees

that a distant star holds my soul, and a city shall be raised in my honor.

I touch his face with my breeze as he cries like a woman, and his advisors scold him like a boy. 

I tell him I love him silently, as loud as I can, and wait silently on this side of the river.