I will remember

always,

as day meets night,

each dusk and dawn

both sides of my

reality

face to face

on bended knee

in gratitude.

I will remember

what betrayal feels like

and those who loved

and rose behind me

like an army.

I will remember

loneliness and its dangers

and value those

I hold now

who give their voice

their hand, heart and time.

I will remember

the moments

where there was only

one degree

of separation between

death and life

and the sacred knowledge

that still

I lived.

I will remember

negligence,

the feeling of invisibility

as I appreciate

those who see me

and call me their own.

I will remember

the breaths that labored

loving me

with their eyes

as I let them go,

and I will remember,

I will always remember

what love looks like

when it’s

real.