Softly rises and falls your chest under my arms,
The soft glow of candlelight casts dancing shapes across my ceiling,
The dusty ceiling that becomes the roof of a home when it's over both of us.
Your scent fills the air along with your quiet hums of a deep and peaceful sleep.
I think to myself that this is what I've spent so long hoping for.
A love that roars and lulls like navy ocean waves, and stains my skin a flower-like pink.
A bond that drives both parties forward in ways no one thought possible prior.
A persistent insistence on fighting any resistance.
You startle in your sleep, as though frantically looking for something you've lost.
Your eyes meet mine and tensed muscles relax and settle into mine once more.
You smile into me and those three words play out like a holy church bells' ring
It's the purest form of love I've ever received.
"You crossed my mind while I was working, and I smiled at the thought of us,"
You say as if those words weren't carefully picked by your innermost loving hands,
For the purpose of letting me know everything I always hoped to one day know.
You tease my eyes for their inevitable tears.
You shy away when I repeat myself,
To my dismay, as I have millions of replays queued up for only your ears,
"I'd do anything for you," "you're beautiful, and mine, and perfect to me,"
The things I know you love to hate hearing over and over again.
My mind overtaken by the image of you,
10,000 ideas for how to capture your glow in a digital pencil sketch,
None of them ever coming close to the emotional impact of seeing you smile,
But all of them eliciting that very, most intoxicating reaction from you nonetheless.
I draw us in 10 universes, and think of billions more,
I imagine we're manta rays, and I get to watch the refracted light glimmer across your spots,
I imagine we're flowers, and I provide you shade on harsh August afternoons,
I imagine we're stars, and I blink "I love you" in Morse code from light years away.
Most importantly, I imagine us in this one.
I see us pushing 30, spirits still as young and in love as we are now,
Drinking cherry limeade and trading "remember when"s until our sides ache,
Dancing in a kitchen we worked so hard to call ours to songs we know all the words to.
I see you shine at every age, through every splintering timeline,
In a world where you lose your hair, in a world where we both go blind,
In any case, what remains is how gentle I kiss your head,
And how much I love the time spent next to you.
Should our hourglass spill its final grain of sand,
Somewhere years down the line, or even come tomorrow morning,
I'll rest easy knowing our hearts got to beat in time for even this long.
And I'll be alright remembering now fondly for the rest of my life.
Every time I hear your song, or anything with a harmonica part,
And every nod of a pretty cowboy's hat,
I'll be blessed with the warmth of your sweet memory,
And I'll hum along, with just the same sleepy softness you are right now.
