When I Was Wrong

He has this boyish laughter.

It bursts out when something surprises him.

He doesn’t use it often.

That first time I heard it

I realized I was wrong about thinking

he was hiding something from me.

I realized he hadn’t told me his secrets

because he was still a blank slate.

I was in no position to clean

erase

or accept a mess.

That after all this time

he remained

ready to be written on.