I love all parts of you just as I love you as a whole.

Your eyes are not your eyes.
        They are nets for light,
                catch-all-that-catch-can,
                and catch they do.

Your nose is not a nose.
        It is line and curve
                in your silhouette;
        Immediately recognizable
                and just as soon loved.

Your skin is not skin.
        It is flat and rolling prairie.
        It is not porcelain, but pocked,
                scarred and lovely.
        Sand on the beach that begs to be touched.

Your hair is not hair.
        It is thick forest
                Dark and deep.
        When I run my fingers through,
                I cannot help the rush of comfort.

Your legs are not legs,
        They are crooked columns
                of tendon and muscle,
                    cartilage and bone.
        They carry you to me.

Your arms are not arms.
        They are air.
        Strong as wind when wrapped around,
                and soft as a breeze when alighting on skin.

Your torso is not a torso.
        It is a trunk.
        Solid and beautiful.
        You are my tree and I lean against you.

Your mouth is not a mouth.
        It is a cave,
        Dark but warm
                and full of secrets.

Your hands are not hands.
        They are mirror twins,
                Machines that create and destroy.

And the ring on your finger is not a ring.
        It is the invisible oath;
        the promise that hangs in the air
                   and binds you to me.

White-Gold rings,
Gleam brighter.
When you say,
"I do."

I lay down in my bed
It's been a long day
I pull my knee's inward
and let out a sigh

I stare at the ring on my finger
the one you gave to me
I hold it and twist it in my fingers
until i have examined every color, every butterfly.

I close my eyes and clench my necklace
I trace the shape of the turtle with my figertips
I feel the silver in my hands
and remember when it was in yours

When I close my eyes a tear runs down my cheek
A tear of joy and sadness
Your sweet memory dances in my mind
Your love pierces through my heart

I miss you, I love you
exhaustion overwhelms me
I am ready to dream of you
Until I finally get to see you

Sweet dreams my love.

I tried my best to miss you
during my lonely walks home
I wore the clothing I knew loved
and carried your ring with me
wherever I went

but I couldn’t help but wonder
why I was trying
so hard
to miss something
I didn’t

I stopped trying to see you
in every man I met
and every kind voice I heard
and soon
you found your way
to the back of my mind
and that’s where you stayed
because
you belonged
nowhere else.

When we grow older
and friendship blooms,
let that golden ring be
a shade of evergreen
and then we can say
"We didn't make us,
we were made for us."