bare [h.s.]

Safety

There is one place
where you feel safe,
that you call home,
that at the end of a gruelling day
when you've lost all hope,
you seek shelter in.
And I seek refuge in his arms.

As he holds me close to his chest,
my matted curls are gently stroked by his careful hands.
As his soft, rose lips press
delicate kisses against my forehead, my breathing calms against his beating heart.
No longer am I frightened
by the night's events.
I feel small in his arms,
like a little girl cozily nestled in
her father's loving embrace.
And I sleep as a child sleeps,
knowing that this man,
stronger and braver than I,
will protect me
from all evils and dangers.
And as my eyes close heavily
on the moving world around me,
he whispers into my hair while
we lay still together against the
wooden headboard of his bed.
"I wish I could make
your pain subside."