Salt

Just before sleep, we catalogued our uncertainties,
Nestled in the arms of what might have been:
Waves of possibility swamped our dreams.

Still, we thought, there would be a moment,
The coming together after years apart:
Cradled by this peace, we slept.

She opens the door, and there is an awkward pause:
Here, between beats of the heart and pauses of the clock,
A decade of moments and infinite paths converge.

Before she speaks, hand on the door, she looks up,
Smiling: her collar is open, and the light
Follows the smooth bone into shadow.

At that moment between the words,
while memory flashes through our veins,
It is the sum of her that dries my throat.