The Promise

By Jennifer Ferraro

There is something I wanted
before I wanted this,
before I became a closed fist
and the earth was closed to me;
There is something I needed
before I needed this,
before I huddled inward
to shield the need from absence— There is something I hoped for
that was promised,
there was a kindness and a tenderness—
there was a kiss
that I longed for
and imagined to exist
before this
exile.
There was something I wanted
before I wanted this—
there was a kiss.


© Jennifer Ferraro, 2002—All rights reserved.

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