WRITER.

2023

I never understood why 

Clipped flowers in a bouquet 

Became a Valentines gift

Being something newly dead, 

A thing that fades and crumbles.

Now I know from your hands

I would accept them as a sacred offering 

Trimming their stems, changing their water, 

Keeping one petal pressed into the folds of a book.

I never understood why holding hands was romantic 

Sweaty palms and the awkward slip of skin on skin.

Until I reached across the backseat to touch you, your hand upturned and welcoming,

And I never understood why I would want to gaze into a lover’s eyes, until I looked into yours, where the stars came to roost.

I never understood candles as ambiance, until I saw the light cast on your smiling face, and who cares about chocolates I thought but if they came from you I would savor them and save a wrapper for remembrance. 

You gave me a bracelet I wore every day we were together, and for many we were apart. And a love letter I kept close and read countless times.

And now those tokens of love lie lonely in a chest in my room, and in my own chest, in the cavity that displaced my heart. 

Now I understand.