You see flaws in every face
If you look long enough.

That’s why I’m so afraid
Of the word ‘forever’.

Forever is long enough
For sunrises to become stale
For fire to become tame
For a favorite song
To become like nails
On a chalkboard;

Forever is long enough
For passion to waste away
Like grapes into raisins
Under the beating sun
Of countless days.

Love starts as a feeling,
But to continue is a choice;
And I find myself choosing you
More and more every day.

Let us love like the spark
Between flint and stone
In reckless abandonment,
Promising no eternities,
But promising only to seek out
Upon each day’s sunrise
Something to choose to love
In each other.

Sometimes it feels like even if
Every inch of my skin was touching yours
I still wouldn’t be close enough to you.

I came up with a new reason
To write your name today
I plagiarized each letter
From a love note you wrote me.
The scent of ink was sacred to me
In that relapsed moment…
For a minute I could pretend
The paper reminded me of your skin;
I could pretend the glimmering ink
Was the moonlit lake
Of our summer night.
But the pretending crumpled with paper
And I threw us into the trash can
For the bridge between us is long burned
And it’s time I accepted that.

You brought me to places
I’d have never thought to go
To a trail near the river
Where the water runs slow;
To a mountain where all we heard
Was our voices’ echo;
You showed me inward beauty
That doesn’t show in photos.