(a five minute poem - sorry, that’s all I’ve got)

I came to the university
to get some needed privacy
- to learn about the world
and give adult life a whirl.

I’m up here in the frozen north,
where I expected cold and polar bears
and the pressure of academic cares
- but there’s a storm every week
- my mom, back home, has started to freak.

This weather feels like Florida
should we keep the windows boarded-up?
Can we get the power back?
The butteries are flooded
- we can’t get snacks!

I think it’s all hilarious
and so far, a peak experience.
This looks like one of my best decisions
in spite of natures interventions.

There are times when I feel that being tired but unable to sleep is nearly as bad as being hungry with nothing to eat
Although, when you're stomach aches,
you can always take a nap to make it feel better...

And right now, I’m not sure what is making my stomach feel so hollow, perhaps it's the butteries that are dancing around in it
But what used to be butterflies are now moths laying eggs of worry and decay in the happy feelings my heart once held.
Somewhere along the line i must have slipped up, i must have made you angry one way or another I just know.

And it's these thoughts that plague me, like the accursed ticking of the grandfather clock that stands in the black room of the Mask of the Red Death, Letting me know that soon my time will be up.
I try not to let my worries way me down like cement blocks tied to my feet as members of my own subconscious mind throw me over the bridge of hope, and i sink into the sea of uncertainties.

I keep reminding myself that there are reasons why your eyes light up when you see me, things that make that smile of yours takes my breath away, and so amazingly infectious that i can't help but grin despite the way my stomach has turned itself into knots.

Seriously my organs must be playing twister in there or something because before i met you they didn't look like a pretzel...and least i don't think they did.

and after all this time you must have noticed how one glance of yours makes my heart race, pounding against my chest like the way prisoners bang steel doors .  

Your touch instills in me endless delight and I know that when I gaze at you my eyes they light up, and my smile must rival your own.

Can we truly go on like this forever? I don't see why not, except for maybe how my stomach is still in those knots, i wonder if they'll ever go away? I wonder...should i not want them to stay?

And what of yourself? Does my smile bring warmth to your soul as you watch me look up at the sky waiting for the lightning to strike and the rain to fall?
You laugh as i squeal with joy as the thunder claps
Time stands still for a moment and I sigh,

Is it enough for you? To watch me bubble with glee
As the sky cries tears of acid rain and lightning bolts crash down from the sky with a booming fury...that used to scare me to death.
Do your eyes linger on my figure as we part? Do you turn back with hopes of catching one last glimpse of me before I disappear from sight?

If not, i suppose that's fine,
Because this moment is all that matters,
when my stomach is neither clouded with butterflies.
nor tightened with worry,
and I can't seem to recall what day it is.

In this moment, all I need
Is just you, me, and that rain.