I find myself within you when you look at me   

when our lonely bodies sway in this space 

I do not see brokenness  

but rather our enduring strength.  

When you wipe my tears as I confide, 

did you know that you wiped your own?

Such warmth and reassurance of skin is the kind that only dark ones can provide 

Did you know that when you call me “beautiful”,

you see the reflection of yourself as well?  

Caressing the Earth in our hands as we pull each other into an embrace 

I’ve never felt so strong to be fragile 

until my truth had finally broken out of my face

like the soft glow of sunlight pouring out from a wall of concrete clouds.

Did you know that when we laugh honestly (with each other) we can finally breathe? 

We free our lungs in moments of infrequent relief with a rare and beautiful carelessness 

since we had waited so long to exhale.

As we fall deeper into our darkness,  

discovering that your presence was what I had lacked, 

I found that the most painful and passionate color 

is black.