We'll never reach a balance.
You tug at me and then let out so much slack I fall on my face.
And I do the same to you.
There are times I know you love me,
But there are times I know you don't.
I always love you. Always.
Overpoweringly so.
I guess I couldn't have expected anything else.
We started backwards.

Lived together for three weeks the day we met.
Sat together all day, ran around until we fell asleep.

We got together every few days in late summer.
Hours upon hours of laying in the sun.
A meal together.

Now we're lucky to see each other every other weekend.
A couple hours.
Racing around, in plain sight.
We might get to hold hands.

Soon enough we'll go to college.
Meet on holidays.
Uncomfortable hugs.
Changing without each other.
So much we'll miss.

And then we'll be strangers.
Backwards, unbalanced strangers who will love each other while the leaves float away
While the snow dances on the wind
While the grass struggles through the mud
While we grow tan laying on the grass
In separate parks on separate days living separate lives.
We'll keep a matching pair of creased photographs
And each tell our own separate children a story
Of our first, backwards love.