There's a stretch of time when you know it
but you can't say it
because you're scared you won't hear it back
and so you hold it as a secret
afraid to take it out and break it.

There's a moment in time when you say it
and wish you'd said it long ago,
the very moment you first thought it
just so that you could have seen
the face you love
explode into a smile like you've never seen before
that much earlier.