Give Me Your Heart, Make It Real

. . . or else forget about it . . .

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His explosion is like a steampot, lid blown clear of the top from heat and pressure unseen but no longer containable, and when the stunned stillness echoes its silence you think, What the hell was that?

What it was – what it is and has been and will continue to be – is a cognizance. And unhappiness. A hidden-but-no-longer-hideable internal shock that has jolted through you both. Something is not right here.

And so you face it.

You face him.

When he’s gone from plum-red rage to gray-faced somber approachability, you say Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?

And he does.

In all its painful, humbling, half-coherent vulnerability, the truth — his truth, pieces of it that you are capable of picking up and puzzling the meaning of — comes out.

It’s scary.

He’s scared, rightly so.

And you… You think, This is my friend.

And you are reminded that love is more than limerence and less than romance and that it’s greater than the sum of what he feels for you and you for him. That it’s a life you built and the safe space you fill between one another in otherwise empty rooms with history and trust and mistakes and triumphs and pain and willingness to try and knowledge of Us. It’s – for you – embracing another challenge without hesitancy (you must, you cannot run from this, you don’t even want to) and – for him – unhesitatingly trusting that you will not abandon him just because __________.

For you, there is no time to harbor anger and no reason to hold on to resentment.

And for him, there is – perhaps, simply – no time.

No reason, no rhyme.

But there is you.

And sometimes – most times, this time, the time we have together – that is enough.

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The tides ebb.

The crashing waves of strain recede.

And like the sands, we are worn smooth.

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This post – title and opening line from Rob Thomas and Carlos Santana’s collaboration, Smooth – is (probably the last) part of my September Song Project.

To all of you who have played along with me this month, as readers or as writers: THANK YOU.

And if you’ve posted for the project but have not yet received a visit from me, it means I don’t have your link. Please leave me one in the comments section below or click the badge above and talk to me on the main project page.