We have built a bridge dear. (You are in my heart.) We dance in a circle, (round our secret that knows). No one sees the shared center we turn about. (We see what is not visible to others.) We saw each other across the depths of a dark night, (the vital signs monitor the only light.) Heard the orderly's quiet tread come to check my vital signs, not disturbing (a troubled, needed sleep.) This is the bond between us. (What we saw in each other,) that no one else did. (Until we danced around) our shared center.
First appeared in 2019 issue of Blue Hole, the Georgetown Poetry Festival anthology, edited by Joyce and Mike Gullickson.