This Is How You Keep Her

This time, hold her hand. Like it’s the last time you’re going to feel how every one of her fingers slip so perfectly with yours— like a lost puzzle piece finally finding the space where it fits just right.

Touch her. But not in places as shallow as skin or hair— touch her like you’re dipping your fingers on the surface of the deepest part of the ocean. Beyond the flesh. Without having to move at all. In a way, she would feel even if you’re a hundred miles apart.

Lean into her— so close, you could feel the brush of her tresses against your face. Whisper in her ears like you’re telling tales to the wind. Get lost in the dip of her neck when you try to sink just a tad bit further. Circle your arms around her like she is the last haven there is on this universe and you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

Love her deeply, immensely, and unforgettably. Feel every inch of her body next to you and take it all in like it’s your last breath. Break all the cold walls she has surrounded her heart with. When all she’s ever felt like was that she was nothing but a little piece of this cold hard earth. See them erode and fill in each cracked surface with lovely, summer flowers.

Let her know. With every brush of your fingers that she’s something. That she has a purpose. Let her know about all the joy she has brought to this life. About all the lives she has touched. All the little voices she has amplified. All the hearts she has captured. Take her into your arms and let her know that she is capable of warming all these cold, dark souls. That her words are so powerful they could throw off the axis of this world in a blink. That she could change something.

Make her feel that she is not fragile. Or weak. She is the quiet before the storm. The monstrous waves crashing against the boulders in the shoreline.

Because this is how you don’t lose her. In a crowd full of foolish and self-centered people. In a world that asks for nothing but for everything to be in absolute perfection.

This is how you show her that beauty can coexist with the absence of impeccability. And that she is that beauty you won’t mind spending the rest of your life keeping.