Challenging Poetry

pairing off

it’s spring again, and a pair of birds builds a nest
in the ladder beside the door,

twigs and grass rest in the hollow
where steel joins rung and rail,

their home meets my home.
I ache, alone.

I am whole in myself.
I don’t need another to complete me.

but I long for it—the love,
the laughter caught in a sudden glance,

the arm around my shoulders
promising everything will be fine,

the life matched to mine until our names
are one breath—Rhyssaand . . .