First you catch their attention.
A smile, a flirting laugh of breathy air.
Perhaps you’ll trace your fingers across
their knuckles, press your thumbs
against their barren palms.
Your low voices whisper into
the air, quiet conversations
over cups of steaming coffee.

They will want to see you again.

Their face will light up like
fireflies dancing in twilight,
and you will feel wanted and
important, excited like a child
unwrapping a birthday gift.
You’ll take walks through woods,
drive through busy streets and
sit side by side on park benches.

They will come to enjoy your presence.

You will laugh more together,
dream up of ideas and activities
like making road trips, seeing
families, concerts, sharing holidays.
You touch more, hand holding,
kissing, embracing, feel whole
and comfortable with the other,
finally feeling wanted and loved.

They will be loyal to you.

You will leave a cold text.
You made yourself unforgettable,
a blot in their memory, your
ghost left in all the trembling spaces
where you connected with one another.
They imagine you with someone new.
They constantly wonder if you ever cared
about them like they did for you.

They yearn for an answer
but plead for ignorance.

That’s how you get someone to love you.