Open Water

by Caleb Azumah Nelson

You know that to love is both to swim and to drown. You know to love is to be a whole, partial, a joint, a fracture, a heart, a bone. It is to bleed and heal. It is to be in the world, honest. It is to place someone next to your beating heart, in the absolute darkness of your inner, and trust they will hold you close. To love is to trust, to trust is to have faith. How else are you meant to love?

You tell her she deserves to be loved in the way you love her, and she starts to cry, quiet as rain.

There’s no solace in the shade. Let yourself be heard and hear her words. Have faith.