i.  
you see her for the first time & she will walk past you as if you are a crack in the wall & she is a skyscraper with her head so high in the air, & when you can't sleep you'll think about the way her eyes strayed into yours for a moment too long before breaking away & disappearing into the crowd of people.

ii.
she'll look both ways before telling you she loves you under her breath & when she hugs you, her eyes scan the empty room as if the walls had eyes & ears & a mouth that could give you away.

iii.
when she's curled up in your lap shaking with a mismatched heartbeat you'll wonder how someone who looked like she carried mountains on her shoulders could crumble so easily in your arms, like the tornado in her mind finally hit her & knocked her off her feet.

iv.
in half-light she'll run her fingers over your arms like she's reading words carved into your skin, binding them together into a perfect metaphor, & you'll hear them playback in your mind at 4am when your head runs wild with thoughts of her.


v.
you'll find a safe haven in rooftops & abandoned rooms where she'll set fire to your insides with hushed breathing between kisses planted perfectly on your lips & she'll make you wonder how dangerous it is to play with wild flames while your body is made of paper.

vi.
you'll stare her right in the eye & tell her that if loving her was a sin then you want no place in heaven because the way her lips fit perfectly on your neck is a paradise you'll never forget.

// the six stages of falling in love with her.

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st,
    So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
    So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

All Aboard! The ship that can't sink.
This is what they’ve been taught to think.
Did anyone know what was in store,
When the titanic began to board?

Gamblers gather all around
Throwing money, pound by pound.
Young Jack, takes the gold,
Waiting for his life to unfold.

Poor Rose, already to be wed.
She’d rather be on her death bed.
On this journey she hopes to be free.
Independent, on the North Atlantic Sea.

The day of departure has arrived,
Jack is rushing, hypnotized.
Along trots Rose, holding her fiance's hand
She’s fiddling with her wedding band

Evening comes, the stars aligned.
Jack is sketching, perfectly timed.
Rose is weeping and running fast
To the railing, to be gone at last.

Jack rescues her and takes her hand,
Reminds her of love and beautiful lands.
She hears words shes never been told,
“Look Rose, you’re the Queen of the World”

Days pass by, and Jack is framed.
Theft of a necklace is what its been named.
Chained to a pole in the lower cellars
Despite all this he never was a beggar.

Smooth sailing, sudden crashing.
Every passenger confused, nervously laughing.
Rose hurries to Jack, finds him just in time
Up the ladders they italic climb, climb, climb. italic

They land on an iceberg, freezing cold
Jack, young like gold, shivers and spasms in the crisp sea
“I’ll never let go Jack, I’ll never let go”
But of course, she did.