we spent seven years planning our route thieved maps and charts marked the dangerous spaces with black scribbles harsh on the yellowed parchment of skin and memory where the edges grew unclear we wrote here there be unicorns because when your ship is love you have hope for more than monsters we packed our bags full of optimism and enough time together to get us through hunger spells a seasoned sailor and her eager apprentice we had a route to riches in theory but setting sail revealed how unprepared we were the storms battered our haul the salt of my tears stung your open wounds and in the