It is 10:30 again.

The village lights fall away behind me, and I step into the Black Forest, a wall-less cathedral. The rain is light—barely rain at all—just a mist that gathers on my lashes and darkens the shoulders of my coat. The air smells like pine sap and wet earth. Everything is black and alive. And I am invigorated.

I've no phone, and I am utterly lost.

I walk until the road gives way to a narrow trail. The hills rise, then dip into shadowed valleys. I can no longer see the hazy blue/black sky. The trees knit themselves overhead, and the world becomes close and breathing. I hear footsteps behind me.

Not echo.

Not memory.

Her.

I do not turn at first. I know the cadence of her presence the way I know my own pulse. She comes alongside me without ceremony, her shoulder brushing mine. Her hair is damp from the mist. There is warmth coming from her, subtle but undeniable.

“You went too far last night,” she says softly.

“I was looking for you,” I answer.

“I was already there.”

We climb a small rise together. At the top, the forest opens into a dark meadow, a hollow between hills. It is absolute blackness—no houses, no distant lamps. Just the quiet breathing of the earth.

I reach for her hand.

Not urgently. Not greedily.

Just to know that this is real.

Her fingers are cool from the rain, and she threads them through mine as if it is the most natural covenant in the world. We walk like that, saying little. The silence between us is not empty. It is thick and full and holy. I confess things I could not say in daylight.

I tell her about the fire in me. The way desire rises unbidden. The way my body betrays the careful architecture of my vows. I tell her I feel sometimes like a boy again—uncontained, startled by the intensity of wanting.

She does not pull away.

“I know,” she says.

There is no shame in her voice. No accusation. Only understanding. The rain deepens. It gathers at the ends of her hair. I can barely see her face, but I feel her watching me. Studying me as if I am something fragile and fierce at once.

“You don’t need to prove anything to me,” she whispers. “I already know what you feel.”

Her hand comes to my chest. Over my heart.

I feel it hammering against her palm.

I sink down into the wet grass—not in despair, not in defeat—but in reverence. The forest presses in around us. The dark feels protective, not threatening.

I rest my forehead against her stomach like a fawn seeking warmth. My hands find her waist, steady and trembling at once. I am not asking to take. I am asking to belong.

She places her fingers in my hair and holds me there.

“You must walk your life in the light,” she murmurs above me. “But here, in the dark, we are honest.”

The words undo me.

I rise slowly. I cup her face in my hands, rain-slick and luminous. When I kiss her, it is not fevered or frantic. It is slow. Intent. The kind of kiss that holds back as much as it gives. The kind that says: I want you. I choose restraint. I burn anyway.

The forest witnesses.

An owl calls somewhere down in the valley.

She steps backward then, not abruptly, not cruelly. Just gently, as mist moves off water. Her fingers slip from mine.

I reach for her—

But my hand closes on nothing but rain. And I am alone again in the Black Forest.

Lost, perhaps.

But steadier.

Because I know she was here.

Because I know the path back exists.

Because even in the deepest dark, I am not wandering without love.

Forevermore.

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#poetry #wyst #romancingiberia #germany #blackforest

This journey has been so long It's thrown twists and turns at me I thought I was near the end but when I got through the weeds I found another path stretching ahead of me

I chose this path I didn't know it'd be this long but I can't turn around now so all I can do is take it one step at a time

Step by step Day by day I'll reach the end of this path The sky seems dark now but soon, it'll clear up

And the best part is that I'm not walking alone there are so many people walking alongside me holding my hand so I don't need to be scared

So step by step day by day and hand in hand I'll keep walking this path until it opens up to bright, blue skies

#Poetry #Healing #Friendship #Kindness #Hope