I love you because of who you are. I love you because you have a kind heart and a peaceful soul. A demeanor worthy of admiration, and a character brimming with integrity. I love you because you give me belief in all things I do, and hope for the future. I am in love with your mind and its thoughts, your loving heart,and your clever wit. I love the way your perfect eyelashes flutter when you blink, and the depth I see in your hazel eyes. This is only the iceberg tip of the reasons why I love you. And to think, it has only been the iceberg tip of our future together.

It could be a sibling or a friend. Or a stranger. It could be somebody you’ve known all your life but never actually known them. It could be somebody you once exchanged glances with on the sidewalk, and then walked away forever. 

You don’t even have to have everything in common, or be the same age, or be brought up the same way. It’s just somebody who connects with you. Your minds are as good as one. And you won’t even believe it until it happens to you. That’s the moment when you realize without a doubt: “This person is my soulmate.” It is as if you were missing a piece of you for an entire lifetime. But you never even realized what you didn’t have until now.

And that’s when you fall in love. Not necessarily a romantic, sexual, fiery love. It could be platonic. It could be anything. But it is real love that lasts.

I hear the raindrops throwing themselves
against the matte black asphalt outside my window.
It turns blacker than black.
Suicide captured in glassy puddles.

My black bergamot tea is turning cold.
I try to sip it faster.

My dark wet hair from my hot shower
is slowly turning cold.
But so are the streets outside:
Dark, wet, and cold. 

It is four in the morning
and my tears are the color of the sea.

That makes me happy.

You saw me
at my lowest point:

when I thought day 
had turned to night

And the sun 
would fail me tomorrow.

and when I cried endlessly
not caring anymore.

Because I thought I could let go
whenever I wanted to.
It would be so easy.

You saw me
at my darkest hour

And you still love(d) me.

I stood there by the city window
with the city lights 
and the miserable brown city sky 
peering down at me.

I stood there by the city window 
without a cup of coffee or tea 
Only me and my pink oyster, 
Dripping with a wonderful sea.

Thirsting to be sucked and eaten. 
My eyes were closed 
My knees were buckled 
And goosebumps ran down my spine

Suddenly
Fingers slid up and down 
And in and out 
(such simple motions, really)

As easily as a cigarette being slid out of its pack 
And then hastily slid back in 
When looks of disapproval surmount the urge. 
Such guilt, such pleasure, such beauty.

How many of you have been in love? I mean real, true love. The love you have when distance, age, or time doesn’t matter. You are both equals, and there are no feelings of superiority or inferiority. Arguments and fights don’t tear the bond apart; they bring you closer. There are only compromises. No winning or losing. There is always mutual trust and honesty. There is no embarrassment or pressure to be perfect, and there are no secrets. There are no unrealistic expectations or warped illusions of reality. Your happiness comes second to your partner’s. Your love is unconditional and you love each other for who that person is: nothing less, nothing more. You’re each aware of the person’s good characteristics as well as their flaws, and instead of the flaws being an obstacle, they’re just another incentive to be better. To spend your lives together, through thick and thin. To stay true to each other and to exchange vows. To share a life together, not to give and take. For all the simple things, as well as the big picture. Infinitely. Forever and always.

While he coiled the ropes like beautiful snakes
I listened for the sizzling sun
as it touched the silent sea,
reflecting on his golden arms.
And in that single moment
I like to think that we both heard
the beginning of a single song.

From centuries ago.

Can you hear
your heart pounding inside of me.
Or the cracked world 
cradled in my arms. About to disintegrate.

She stared at the puddle of blood on her kitchen floor. What was she doing at three in the morning? Events of the early morning unfolded before her eyes in brief snapshots. Carrying heavy bloody sacks from the van to her kitchen in the cover of the darkness. The sharp knife glinting in the fluorescent lighting. Her father’s anguished yell. Her panicked breathing. And now, blood. Blood was everywhere; blood in the sink, on the glaringly white melamine countertops, on the floor, in the cooler, smeared across the freezer door…

She didn’t know what to do except clean. So that’s what she did for the next two hours. She scrubbed, sanitized, bleached, and Lysoled every stained surface that was visible to her tired eyes. Then, she went into her room and stripped off her bloody clothes and threw them in the hamper. After briefly washing herself, she put on clean clothes and passed out in the living room. She left the front door unlocked, and the balcony door open.

I will fight for you. I would die for you. I will wait for you. As long as we have to wait to be together, I will do it. Because there is no other man that I would rather be with. I am forever yours, and you are forever mine too. I will love you until the end, whenever that will be. I will love you in ways that we have never ventured before. I love you always, and infinitely.