I listen to the ways the world says 'you';
The soap used to wash your socks,
The water flowing from them to the drain,
The scent left on the feet of you.

The taste of your armpit tamed or wild,
Fresh or aged, shaved or cultured
Always eternally you.

The scars of your skin
Vigorous, healthy, the life of the earth in you
Exuding from you, you becoming you

As when fresh bathed, you
Come to me strong and familiar and always shy
Asking, learning and leaning and asking
If I am happy with you.

This 'yes', and all the 'yeses' of you
From me to you, others to you
You to me again and again an "I do, I do, Oh I do."

It's not just my tongue
Massaging the names of you across my lips
Or just my brain recognizing the scents of you.

Even too, the warmth around my heart,
The swelling of my blood
Has become a name of you
Like the place in my arms
The niche in my most inner guts,
This ingredient of my cherished dreams.