The demands we make
on each other
the night of yell and cease
and talk and smoke and love
you are the light in the doorway
you are
the the dream
that wasn’t supposed to be mine
fever that liberates
me from the lies
they condemned me to inhabit
and instead
our daughter playing a familiar melody
on the piano singing
a refrain from another time
an anthem that has kept us
from unraveling
the secret to enduring
to leave unspoken
what needn’t have been said
to come to each other
to ask for everything