We always knew it would come to this,
the lost code sealed between our lips,
the symbols along my pores should tell you that
you're so much more than skin.

Your eyes were like soft lamps
sweeping over me then,
stilled in travels once unceasing,
I was a new terrain for you to explore.

A valentine to carve and chisel a new home from,
where your hands could excavate secrets,
wander along the smoldering ruins of what
relentlessly marched upon me before,
so you'll understand why I pull away
at times like shivering prey.

Because I once lost myself here,
swayed to the song carried in every fragrant breeze
when my arms were immense enough to cradle a world.

We always knew it would come to this,
the buried codex your fingertips learn,
glyphs along my body that should be the message
you need to remember that we're so much more than skin.

Your eyes were soft lamps
sweeping over the statue I was becoming,
chiseling away to see what remained
of the shadows and cross once placed over me,
like the monsters and snowfall once draped over yours.

I was terrain already marked with secrets,
the vices belonging to others,
identifiable during the day,
oblique, sometimes unknowable, once night fell,
changing the shapes of spirits once fastened to me,
the valentine I once spilled blood to sway to.

I never knew it would would come to that.

Your eyes, though, the soft lamps
that can both calm and haunt,
have unearthed enough by now to know
that we're more than just skin,
to keep your excavation of me unceasing.