LGBTQ+ Poem: Requite, by Isidore Poros

I have never trusted the ways in which
people hold others
So closely.

I always feared I would be smothered
under the weight of affection
or responsibility.
Some sacrifice I never thought I could make.

But, in the end
I was the one who clawed at my ribs
every night,
gasping for air in the dark,

So depraved.

My feet would walk me to your door.

I worried over the lines in your face
How they deepen and shrug
mapping a chart across your brow.

A constellation of time passed,
a consolation for times to come.

I carved some of them there
right there
where your mouth goes askew.

Keep them
Please, keep them.