You reach for my hand and I

Find myself watching

The scars on your knuckles

Thinking of the last time

Someone offered their hand to me

Butterflies in my stomach dancing

To the rhythm my pulse sings

And my throat’s so tight I 

Can’t breathe as

My mind ventures back

To a whirlwind summer with

Golden light and the smell

Of the sea that tasted like

Kettle corn and waffle fries

And I remember chests heaving and

Hearts wavering, aching throats

So raw no more shouted words would

Fall from them

Standing amid fractured pieces of 

A broken life and

I remember a hand

Wrenched from mine with

A disgusted curl of lips as I was

Trapped in a relationship neither wanted anymore

Until there was no one but 

Me 

Anymore, alone in a ruined history

And as the memories fade and I’m 

Still staring at

The hand you hold

Before me and 

Counting every scar on your fingers

Like a magnet, your

Eyes pull mine and

I’m overwhelmed by how earnest and

Sweet you look that I

Find myself falling

Anyway, so I push away the memories of

Another hand and another time and ignore the voice

Telling me I’m not enough as I place my hand 

In yours, lips curling into a

Shy smile as our hands fit together like

They were made for each other

As I push away that other life and that other

Me

And I let myself reach out to

You

Just one hand, pressed into

Another