Kami

Most nights
when you slept beside me
my hand on your shoulder
your feet warming mine
there would come a moment
you’d suddenly twitch
and whisper from your shadows
“What’s happening?”

“It’s OK. It’s just me.” I’d answer
but I don’t think you heard
- or cared -
you never really awakened
just paused your dreams
long enough to remind me
of your innocence.

I came to cherish these moments
on the nights you stayed
imagining you were trying
to teach me something
- something beautiful -
but I was too shallow to understand
too unseeing to make out 
the faint edges traced
by a sidelong glance.

Still, I didn’t want to lose
even your cryptic lessons
I knew would soon drift away
to fall below my horizon
so I gave them a name
- Kami -
the Shinto term for spirits
hidden from this world
as you soon would be
from mine.