Her

Part 27

 I stood beside my darling teacher, one hand gently resting on her back, the other braced against her desk in her office, which we were both leaning over. As she rearranged sheets of loose paper on her desk, she shifted closer to me, pausing briefly to kiss the side of my head before resuming organization. I sighed softly, leaning into her, though I kept my gaze on where her hands moved across the desk. I knew how she felt; we only had so much time together, it was unbearable not to touch the other, to kiss them, caress them, hold them. Only the long-anticipated unveiling of a poem she had written either for or about me, I wasn’t sure, could keep me from gathering her up in my arms and kissing her until she was unable to remember the world that existed outside the confines of these walls. Ah, at last, here it was, the poem. She turned to look at me anxiously, her eyebrows pulling together to form a crease between her eyes. With one hand on her waist, I shaped the other to her ever beautiful face, gently smoothing out the wrinkle, before kissing her slowly, deliberately, softly. When I pulled back, however reluctantly, I felt more than saw, her relax. She was less tense in my arms, her eyes were warm, and a small smile lit up her lips. Close to her as I was, I barely felt the soft rush of sweet breath escape her lips as she handed me a worn, creased sheet of lined paper, with words inscribed down the page in the familiar and beloved handwriting of my love.

I hear the words you whisper,

and I close my eyes,

breathe you in.

I imagine you,

the way you smile,

your warmth,

the soft satin of your skin,

and I am overcome

by you.

I see the moon glow in the

midnight sky,

a far-off promise that

you are there,

reflecting you back to me.

I feel the steadiness of my heartbeat,

the quiet stillness,

complete in the knowledge that

you are within me.

I am full with love for you,

content and peaceful,

endless,

and I am overcome

by you.

I looked up from the page to gaze into her face, and I’m sure she was as surprised as I was to find that my dark eyes were glistening with tears, which started to spill from my eyes and roll down my cheeks. She overcame her surprise more quickly than I, or perhaps it was thoughtless, automatic, but she folded me against her, enveloping me in her embrace. I held tight her as the salty moisture continued to dampen my cheeks, dripping off my chin. Nothing in the world felt as right as when I could feel her slight body firmly against me, solid, safe. Mine. Mine to hold and love and cherish, and mine alone.