Before the passion in me dies,

while I can still breathe and inhale

the sweetness of jasmine in spring and

feel the ocean pouring between my toes,

I want to stand in the small gulf of your arms

and know heaven in my soul.

I want to feel your warm skin pressed

against mine and breathe together in time.

And when I’m looking off into forever,

your adoring kisses at my neck

will to my senses bring me back.

With just a look you heal me—

you love me, and I am made whole.

So for this, while I live,

while we have this briefest encounter in time without end,

while the fire burns still within our souls,

and before the smoldering turns cold,

I will look in your eyes at this moment in time

and let myself be loved by you again and again.

Shoshana Wolfington

I am learning I can say no.

It’s not always easy when you’re learning,

when the birthing of your own worthiness

is still so fresh with pain.

You have to keep saying no loud enough until you hear yourself.

I am learning to stand by my no’s, by what nourishes my own soul—

by the NO that has my back, knows best what is for me and what is not.

I am learning it’s okay to be quiet when there is nothing more to say,

when I have already spoken,

when I have paid careful attention, said what I mean

and mean what I say.

Because another discounts my no,

does not mean that I don’t count.

Both of us in the same classroom as I learn to stand by what I have said

and they learn to hear my no.

And just a single no can stand on its own—

just a simple thank you, but no—or because I said so.

I am learning it’s quite okay to have momentary confusion or

temptation to say yes without actually doing so.

It’s okay to sit with it for however long it takes until the thing is done.

Even though it hurts for a while, even though those old feelings rise up,

I know everyone is hurt

when I say yes but mean no.

Shoshana Wolfington