i never really liked my mind much -
too loud, too full,
too distracting -
until i discovered algebra.

my first love was factorization.
my second was l'hôpital.
my third, ramanujan.

i fell in love with numbers
before i fell in love with you
because they make sense
when you don't.

fruit on the sidewalk
fallen from the trees above
bleeding from too many footsteps
(of people who didn't care)
staining the cement with
the bright spring shades

and i'm saying "please don't leave me"
and you're deaf to my words -
crushing me under your heel -
but the colors i bleed are not spring
(they are summer heartbreak
and winters lost)

i'm fragile, about to break,
on a one-way street to the end of the world -
but i'm great at hiding the cracks in my skin
with fool's gold and cheap paint

i've learned to love skydiving
because if i close my eyes,
if i tune out the air whipping by,
it feels just like falling in love.