Of Tenderness

Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer

 

So easily the thin rind
pulls away from the Clementine
to reveal what is soft,
what is sweet.

It matters, I think,
the way we offer
ourselves to each other.

I think of how it falls open,
the peel of the ripe clementine.

I think of how sometimes,
when I ask how you are,
you, too, fall open
and give me everything.

What a gift
when I don’t need to pry.
What a gift, the bright scent
of conversation,
how the tang of it
lingers in the air.

I long to open
for you this way, too.
Trust begins here.