You are not just a sparkler
dancing through the night,
late summer of last year
You are not just beer
in a mug on a Monday afternoon
watching horror movies in my bed
You are not just soft, pale
feet kicking out of your uncle's
hot tub last winter
You are not a mosh pit
from every show we ever
went to together
You are not a pair of
pretty eyes staring lovingly
into mine in the middle of spring
You are not your kisses
You are not your phrases
You are not your voicemails
Or your text messages
You are not the words you've written
Or the stories you've told
You are so much more
than a memory locked
forever stagnant in my head
You are so much more
than the ghost of my affection
I will not dehumanize you
because I've lost your love
I will not sit in our best friend's basement
and talk about you like you're some film
we've all seen together
Or some reality show we watched play out
I will not pretend your life
stopped existing when our romance did
I will continue to acknowledge
all of the current things you do
I will continue to learn about you
Because you are a constant stream,
Changing and developing every day
And I refuse to allow you to become stuck
inside of my reflective pain
I love you so much more
than you will ever know
And I will not pretend that you
only live between my heavy heart
and my racing mind