i've found it's impossible to
let go of someone
who's standing
across the room.

in the thick of it all
love will always be the storm
that tears apart your houses
and drags your cities
back to sea.

no matter if you built levies
or walls ten hundred yards high,
the waters will hit hard enough
to flood the roads
and knock flat
the barriers

in the moment
when your tallest skyscraper
kneels down before the power
of the ocean, in all her grace,
you will always wonder
what could I have done
to forego this
destruction?

but when another storm comes
one that you could not see
one that you were truly
not prepared for
love will be your shelter

in ways that are both obvious
and mysterious all the same
she will come to you
in your moment
of final
prayer
and you will ask yourself
how else could I have diverted
this catastrophe?

after shutting for the final time
the next sight your eyes witness
will be singing birds and blue skies
and you will wonder how,
and eventually,
why?

this I cannot answer

perhaps this is love’s true poison
that she will not let you die
until she kills you herself
or perhaps
that is simply her price
or perhaps even
there is no reason
and love,
just as I,
know not why we do
the things we do
but we do them
with passion,
with commitment,
with love.

I fell in love with a
boy who loved effortlessly,
laughed endlessly, and
lived recklessly. I say
that I "fell" because I can't remember how
his forehead wrinkled when his eyes
lit up.
But I found a
boy, eyes darker than sin,
legs longer than my sighs,
who buries his smile under a tired mouth and
sad realities.
He covers his strained eyes
after sleepless nights
with a squinted glare, counts
down the days 'til he can leave this town.
He does not know that
I would hold him until his
demons are driven away