happy valentine’s day baby she says in a sleepy whisper
its the kind of whisper that travels through your ears and traces the magnetic pathways that live in your skull making road maps out of memories
and i watch as she rises like the sun from the bed sheets, stretches her naked arms toward a sky that she paints each morning with her smile
and i smile too
happy valentine’s day baby
i got you a hurricane, listen you can hear it in my chest, when your eyes meet mine
is it warm? can you feel it too? there’s a storm brewing inside me and it’s the kind that breaks the sky, sends rain down in torrents to an earth that’s so desperate for a drink
it brings life back to rosebuds and it’s you
and when the rain has passed and the ground is thick with mud you still linger
a wisp in that after rain air all clean and new
happy valentine’s day baby
i got you the sun and i wrapped its honeycomb glow around my hands
do you feel it when they touch you? because you’ve been making glass sculptures and gifting them to me in poems
and when i look into them i see your reflection it’s as if you reside in everything beautiful that my eyes notice, every flower petal is a mirror of your smile
and no i’ve never been astute
but you’d be blind to not see the beauty that lives within you.

I miss the me I was as a child
carefree, joyful, worry-less, and wild
barefoot in grass and everything new
a world so exciting
I was guided through.
I miss the child in all of us.

I miss the me I was in adolescence
against the idea of acquiescence
standing tall and finding myself
a world so frightening
but being confident as well.
I miss when from life we'd all rebel.

I miss the me I have not yet been
lying ahead, in wait, with a grin
for the me then will laugh, raise a brow,
and miss the me that I am now.