A Declaration

 A DECLARATION (2020)

With Daniel Assunção

I gazed at my reflection for countless moments, letting thoughts flow like waves across an inner ocean. Rarely did I long to feel the gift that arose in your presence. For with you, I transcended the mere act of breathing and the solid ground beneath my feet. I found a pause in the cycle of self-denial and disdain as if your essence were a gentle invitation to redemption.

Each moment by your side becomes a fragment of an ideal I yearn to manifest. I cannot stray further from life, for my heartbeat has become an offering at the altar of your existence. My body, a terrestrial temple, finds in you a mystery it longs to revere. And though your eyes have never met mine, my soul has already resolved to unveil itself before you, and so I...

...shared the heavens with you...

To exist is to breathe you in. My lungs take in your breath and grant me life; you dwell within me. As long as I have memories, our moments will remain enshrined in a sacred, unforgettable space. I want you to consume, devour, and feast upon my being. Let me be your nourishment, and you, my natural resource! Together, we shall become a photosynthetic cycle: absorbing from each other and spreading fresh air amidst the elements.

I am composed of you—I breathe you! My breath of life. I am devoted to your commands. Enslave me, let me be your liberated servant under your wings; let me soar entangled in your feathers. I long to be swallowed by you. Make me your sustenance, include me in your feast; render me palatable until you savor every part of me, satiating yourself completely... and when you are full, drink me. Until the moment comes when you exhale me into the atmosphere of your sighs, dispersing me as an aphrodisiac aroma that you will once again inhale. Within you, I shall dwell, living organically. For you are in my DNA, vibrating through my cells, weaving the fabric of my tissues and organs.

You are everything, and beyond any metaphor, you are irreplaceable. You are an unreal thought, for even the strictest precision fails to capture your essence. Reality stretches and flees, unable to grasp how marvelously unique you are. Fiction diminishes at the feet of the most beautiful soul-scape: the permeation of your being invading mine, colonizing positive sensations, erecting tribes of well-being, and raising joyful encampments of emotions. Here, you have founded civilizations, multiplying lives of bliss and joy. My everything!

...More than a world, I found a cosmos where I no longer carry the stain of what was impure. In your bosom, I discover new directions, as though maps to existence’s mysteries rested there. On each edge of our shield, I see reflected the strength of our fist, a symbol of the unity we have forged. And in the sweat we share, turned into an offering to time, I recall the certainty that led me to seal our fate.

If you ask where I was before you, I’ll have no words to explain. For what I feel now transcends the limits of my being, dissolving me into the infinity that you are. And if any part of me remains, it is only to belong to you.

Published on July 18, 2020