Traction in Gratitude

We were passengers in a subway car

We were escaping prisoners

I wanted to make sure you were safe

Every god damn day of your life

I feel like I made you miss your exit; owed you ever sense

Best friend, tenacious carnal rush, wrapped speech for years  

We were a cat and a dog caught on a raft in a flood

We were in line together when the bank got held up

We were in the waiting room together when we found out

Separate pieces of news; I held you like you did me

One of us had to mill in the parking lot

We were at the movies three seats apart

We were dying like a fuse when we lit each other on fire

We were zombies, an atheist and a resurrection

Making love out of death

We were lost in a pop dance club both picking up women

Only I went home alone and you never spoke about it, but to me

We were jumpers on a canyon ledge tilting

Neither able to pick the parachute the other packed

I kept waiting for you to open the us box

You kept waiting for me to close my old one

We were baptized in costumes like rebels willing to die

Torn in the blood with the fabric count

Venturing naked vagabonds peering at the moon

We were a road home mugged and drawn

One step forward, two steps back

We were traction waiting on this

To let go because we know, we know

I had to make sure you were ok; sometimes more your father than your man

You don’t talk to him; now me neither

God found someone to take care of you as I go

You had to say nothing, because what else is there

But this, it was not love; I’m happy for you