Do you love me?

taylor-henry Poems

I love you in a way that feels against my will But also in a way that feels part of my design I love you in a sense that is primal, innate, instinctive Like we’re a pairing The pepper and the salt In a past life, we met on a tabletop in a diner In another, we met as equals in a rocks glass ***** and orange juice Sharp-tongued meets bitter-lipped I love you like someone carved your initials into the trunk of me With a rusty trusted pocket knife Like a subtle proclamation On a landmark that doesn’t belong to us But serves as proof I plus you equals forever I love you even though I’ve resisted Denied for being difficult Or too circle for the square I’d carve corners off of me To make it make sense But somehow my rounded corners Met your angled edges And now our shape commands room for itself I love you like I’ve done it before Habit, practice, addiction A dog-eared page I feel you in my spine, fixing my posture to pride Just how you feel me in your ribs, fixing your spirit to your sins I love you come sun, or stars, or noontide My knotty pined boy- “I love you, despite the parts of you that are complex” “I love you, despite the parts of you I don’t understand” “I love you, despite the parts of you that are weathered” “I love you, despite the parts of you that are unforgiving” I could never love you like that Every skin you’ve shed becoming who you are Every bit of potential you hold in the dream of you Every version of you that I have yet to meet or may not ever come to know- I love you there For they are all extensions of you And the only thing better than loving you Is having more of you to love Then, now All that you’ve been, are, or have yet to be I love you in the hours less thought of And in hours thought holy Come sacred Sunday mornings Or weekday convention I see you in the ordinary And in the outskirts of sanctity Do I love you… boy, do I For how could I not?