I’ve gotten so accustomed to you next to me in sleep
I felt the ripple of your departure
and then drifted off again.
But hearing in the wavy lull of my dreams
“Look, the moon”
I opened my eyes to see 
first your silhouette, hair a curly expanse of halo,
and then her
perched just off the balcony
a beacon in her fullness.
I smiled at the silent sight
your whisper still floating in my consciousness
          as I curled back into you.
In the morning you apologized for waking me
as if I wasn’t buoyed by a bonus midnight moment with you
as if I’d ever regret
glimpsing the moon
as if I didn’t love you more
          for this gentle gift.  

You don’t yet know
the space that you’ve filled 
poured into the hollows between my bones
I’m more awake asleep in your arms
than all the days that came before you.

6/2/26