The heaviest feather

If I close my eyes
and block my mind
from worry
while drifting off
to the bears
you can appear
in an instant
as the day
you were born
draped in only
your own magnificance
smiling through
a bitten bottom lip.
You motion
for me to come
closer to touch
what I have
only to imagine.
And your breath
warms me
from the inside out.

But the heaviness
snaps be back
to reality
in a place
where we both
are afraid to move
and afraid not to.
What is right
and fair,
what are the words
that open doors
where walls
previously stood
erected in stone.

I could tumble
over Niagra Falls
in this barrel.
I saw all the signs,
only your mention
of the roaring water
made it seem
possible-
likely-
maybe inevitable.

But the falls
are still off
in the distance
leaving me time
to paddle to shore
should either of us
choose to abandom ship,
while my thoughts
run away
to your bitten
bottom lip.