rose-thorns and yet, and yet, a graceful kind of bloom rising from the tangle- how do i reach you if you are the rose? i would brave these thorns if only for you but darling, i am fragile and i am weak even when you make me strong. to be worthy of you is something i long for. to be deserving of you is something i long for.

darling, listen: you deserve a universe & i am only soft-shelled, solitary. trying to be sharp-edged & blossoming both at once. but for you, i could tuck my thorns away. with you, i need no armour.