To Be Known

by A. Lo’vhenas

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Back at the time

when my world was merely a box

a corner covered with blankets

blue light from the TV

thick socks on my feet

jazz records on the Victrola

hoodie draped around me

Outside the sky was crushing

under its infinity I squirmed

traffic whipped by at lightspeed

and customs seemed absurd

mortality lurked ‘round every corner

thus never settled my nerves

But there in that corner

cross-legged in the passenger seat

winding through mountain roads

adjacent in the booth of a diner

it was safe

I was understood

Like that river in South Carolina

time was true and rambled on

the blanket fort fell away

my corner in the world widened

and when I stepped outside on my own

the sky burst into the cosmos

How fortunate I am to have experienced

what it’s like to be known

met in the muck of the labyrinth

bumbling and totally lost

heart cradled by careful hands

nurturing what I could not.

𓆩✧𓆪