You see me how, now?
You see me put my clothes on,
A tired ritual in the dark of an autumn morning.
After children, after brushing my teeth,
After waking from another life.

The life where I was someone not as I am
Known to you.
I think back to when I was unknown to you
Before I let you examine, judge and weigh me,
Before you saw the irrational, rational thoughts within,
I caught you watching me in awe.

“You are beautiful,” you said.
I laughed and cocked my head
to one side and sighed.
I inhaled, exhaled
And that was that.

The last holy observance,
The last time you witnessed a miracle in me
I did not know I carried.
After that, love became mundane.
Because how can you compete
With being watched in awe?