As Long As You Love Me

Let the city swallow our names,
let the sky turn its back and the roads forget our feet —
I will stand beside your trembling heart
and offer all my ribs as shield and drumbeat.

We are small in this wilderness of hungry eyes,
seven billion voices buzzing about the cost of dreams,
but your hand in mine folds the noise into a secret,
a quiet vow that hunger and ruin won’t sever the seams.

If we sleep on concrete, I’ll make it a palace;
if the coins in our pockets jingle like apologies,
I’ll kiss every bruise that the world carves upon you
and swear by my breath: your sorrow belongs to me.

Let them measure our worth in silver or gold —
they’ll never see how your love makes me bold,
how in your gaze I find a kingdom, a church, a fight,
and even with empty hands, we are more than enough tonight.

So promise me nothing but your trembling trust,
promise me storms and laughter and dust —
for we could be starving, broken, or free,
but I am unafraid — as long as you love me.

by Onnaya