it started about a year ago,
starry-eyed,
lost on a campus and lost on a
cerebral field of land mines.

i didn’t expect much,
you were haloed and far away,
something specked on
the distance. lust.

but you were more,
a neon angel in the rain
and a yellow light
in a bus plaza i knew so well.

i can’t look at it the same way again.
the rain didn’t phase me
like it always did before.
i like the sun, i love you more.

i didn’t expect much,
probably awkward, bumping teeth
and feet,
but as if a painting from the RISD

stepped out of their frame,
and i was not the same.
and you were soft, soft, soft,
in words and hands and i

was safe after i stowed the
scared little girl away,
comforted her in a way,
i’m not scared to grow up

or be in love
or leave home
or be me
anymore.