Bittersweet

• When I presented you to my mother

When I presented you to my mother I didn't mean to say

"this is my boyfriend."

What I meant was

"Mom, this is the reason I can't sleep at night,

the reason I stopped hiding all the sharp things,

the reason my smile is more pacific ocean and less soft rain."

When I first meet you, all my quiet thoughts made a sound.

The butterflies turned into hungry eagles,

my heart beat so hard against my chest I thought it wanted to come out,

only to see you.

When I first kissed you, I wished to turn you into one of my lungs,

so that I would never have to spend a day without you again.

When I presented you to my mother, what I meant was,

this is not my boyfriend,

this is the thunder in my storm,

the words in my poems, 

the beating in my heart.