A knock on the door, as soft and hesitant 
as your first touch winters ago, 
when I was falling apart, 
when my secrets could keep me safe
from what comes after we turn the lights off.

It would be wrong to give
so much of myself away, 
just to summon the heat 
of you so near again.

To take all I am in the dark 
and hope it's enough to not cast a shadow 
over what we were supposed to be.

Look into me and see who I really am, 
not the dark recesses you wish to fill
with parts of who you want,
between the lens you view me through 
and where I have always waited

There's a knock on the window, as soft and lonely 
as your first kiss winters ago,
when you were coming undone, 
when my secrets could keep me safe 
from the echoes and snapshots of you 
that will follow me long after we turn the lights off.

It would be wrong to give 
so much of myself away, 
just to preserve the moment 
your eyes are so close to mine.

To leave behind all I am in the dark 
and hope it's enough to not become a shadow 
of what could've bloomed here.

Look into me and see who I really am, 
not the dark valleys you want to 
occupy with pieces of someone else, 
the fragments you long for and believe 
I may never be able to inhabit.

Between the lens you've known me through 
and where I've waited for so long,
I can only be enough to fill the empty spaces 
others carved into you when we're in the dark.