you are the only one
who knows how to unfold me
without tearing the pages

you find the places
I have kept carefully creased
the corners I tucked away
from everyone else

you learn me slowly
with fingertips that never rush
finding the language
beneath my silence

you know where I am soft
where I am guarded
where years have taught me
to close myself tightly

and somehow
with you
I don’t have to hide
between the lines

you unfold me
until there is nothing left
but the truth of me
in your hands