waiting, (on common ground)...

with or without?

there was no longer a question as to
with or without.
there was only with.
and with would have to do.

at least for the present moment.
current time.
and all other things having to do with
the here, the now.
the temporary:

they fought through walls.
both too stuborn to admit that,
down deep,
they loved each other,
more then they cared to confess
or were able to say.
it was a sick feeling,
covered in soot,
and ash. felt thick
at the back of
the throat.

it hit her, one evening, that it could never be the same as it had been before: without him, the bed felt chronic, empty, hollow & cold. though on the nights that he slept soundly beside her, there was simply not enough room. she kicked & she tossed, screaming loudly into the night so that he woke with a start, voice choked on half-spoken words.

years down the line, after the california king had been introduced with it's deep-fitting sheets and oversized pillows, she would come to realize what, in many ways, she had already known:

it had nothing to do with the size of the mattress. nothing at all.