How can I possibly know
from this distance
if you have ever shed a tear
for me when I withhold
my words from you
in frustrated contempt
that its all I have to offer
or deny.

These little attempts
of mine to make
you break then
run to find me.

These smoke signals.

I am burning the
flesh of my body
that you might
see the clouds and
interpret the messages
within, in the wind,
unspoken for you.

How can you possibly see
in the distance the
stream over my face
when you speak those
impossibly tender words and
cradle my broken places
drawing out the pain and
lulling it away.

It was hidden so well inside I,
the one who hides.

And even after the 47th time
I am still surprised when you
say I love you.

Tara Crown

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/smoke-signals/