You see, he had wet sloppy kisses

Lots of tongue

And dry fingers he rubbed underneath my pants

I was fourteen

And he had been practicing on a girl at work

I didn’t know what V card meant- I thought it stood for visa

Learned the sound it made when my teardrops hit pavement

Easily stepped on

Easily evaporated into nothing

No one would ever believe me

 

Then her, she had hard kisses

No tongue

And she’d “play” wrestle me in the dorm room till my face turned blue

I didn’t know what leaving meant- I thought it meant quitting

Waved at me from behind bulletproof windows

And I pretended not to see

Learned the sound it made when raindrops hit windshield

Wiped from view, going eighty

No one could ever be decent and love me

 

But you

With sweet kisses on the back of my hand

Swear on your tongue to always be soft

Remind me that when I wake up after crying

My eyes are oceans deeper than I can ever know

And you know because of the sand between my lashes

Like the sand between my toes

Like the sand we build our castles with- mine always has a moat to protect me

And I have finally learned something I must’ve always known

That water holds power in numbers

And I hope that if I am only ever dripping from faucets

For you, I will still be enough.