i found you in the fractal labyrinth
sitting small on dusty stone;
i sat next to you and we held each other
-- foreheads touching without a word.

i'd finally found you,
a version of you who still thought of me
as a person (and not some wounded animal),
and the welled-up grief loosened its grip.

i was so happy, and the longing so deep,
that the dream fractured
and i was dragged back into the quiet.

my nightmares still go like this:
haunting labors of
orphaned, penitent love.