Footsteps & Heartbeats Poem by Dónall Dempsey

Here, in a cuddle.

Here, in the making
of a meal...or...love.

Here, in countless conversations
idle chit-chats

sprinkled throughout our day
to day

here,
in the bric-a brac of us

we exchange our pasts
memories that made us

the secret facts of us
that make us...us.

The we
we are now.

loving
each other.

The very this & thats
that lead me to you and you to I

and I unwilling to change
an iota...an inch

a pain...a loss...a grief

in case
my life didn’t flow
into yours

creating some alternative universe
where we would have missed each other

by an iota...an inch
a pain…a loss...a grief.

Here now
in the here & now of us

the gift
of love

given to us

that we
like a little flame

carry carefully
into the future

that awaits us

each each
other’s gift

each little flame
of love

lighting the way
for the other

footsteps
& heartbeats

rhyming
in time.