I love you THIS much

I can still feel you, locked in my arms, your deep, liquid eyes pleading to me..."touch me...touch me", I can see them even now, filled with both an
ineffable sorrow and a trembling hope. You don't even blink. Your lips are slightly parted, breath shallow and quick, heart pounding next to mine. The
air seems hot ... or maybe it's cold, I don't know, I can no longer tell if the heat comes from without or within. If it's a physical or spiritual
immolation.

I only know that I burn and burn and burn...

My hand shakes as I place tentative fingers against your cheek.

"I love you SO much" the words slip out, no louder than a breath.

But those words are superfluous, redundant. I already sing them with my eyes, whisper them with my hands. The letters form chains that connect us,
one to the other.

Hold me, fill me, I cling to you fiercely, yet so painfully aware of how very small and fragile you are beneath me. I must not hold too tight, must not
push too deep...

but oh I want so much to break you sometimes. I want to show you once and for all "I love you *T*H*I*S* *M*U*C*H*", to stretch you like a
balloon until you explode...

but no, my heart is gentle enough to tame even this desperate passion...I love you THIS much and THIS much and THIS much and...

oh....