Rise
When you wake with worry so intense
you doubt your heart, and then rethink our love,
then walk into my arms and share this stance–
we’ll wait right here till noon and barely move.
Let me grasp your towering frame to soothe
the net of nerves upended as you slept
beside me all these nights with reveries of
a life you would have lived if you had met
me years before, you said– the times you wept
and swore you’d find an empathetic soul.
You’re older now, our journeys intercept–
I waited long for someone strong to hold.
Embrace this body, though it’s weak and smaller,
and know your heart to mine I feel much taller.
Marc Darnell is an online tutor and lead custodian in Omaha NE. He received his MFA from the University of Iowa, and has published poems in The Lyric, Rue Scribe, Verse, Skidrow Penthouse, Shot Glass Journal, The HyperTexts, Candelabrum, The Road Not Taken, Aries, Ship of Fools, Open Minds Quarterly, The Fib Review, Verse-Virtual, Blue Unicorn, Ragazine, The Literary Nest, The Pangolin Review, and elsewhere. His latest book is Forecast: Increasing Visibility from Kelsay Books. He has 3 times been awarded the Academy of American Poets prize.
