Constant Companion

Written by Michali Lerner

| October 11, 2019

Twenty long years now

You have stood by my side

Cradling me in your embrace.

You have become

An absolute

Part of me;

Entwined with my being

Till I no longer know

Where I end

And you begin.

We are forever united,

You and I.

But it wasn’t always this way.

No, you washed over me

Like alkaline waves.

Devoured eyes, temples;

Kissed my neck and the soft place

Behind both ears.

Sand blowing on a gentle, unrelenting wind.

Resistance was unthinkable.

So many times I rejected your all-subsuming love,

Pushed you away, fought like an animal,

Always defeated.

But you, you never wavered,

And like the sea, eternal,

Your weedy tendrils dragging me back

To hold me in your tightening grip.

You are the one thing

I can always depend on,

More so than the rising tide.

You have never failed me.

You are

My everlasting, my constant companion.

Pain.