i love you as a poet does, 

with similes, and long drug out rhyming lines 

to compare you with the sea

wind flickering across the surface, then back into sky 

with flashes of memory glinting through tree lines

as you drive quickly and all the clouds stand still behind the branches 

i love in between childhood fantasy and drafting picture book stories 

that may begin to describe my adorations with a simple pen

drawing lines connecting life, truth, and reverie 

dreaming up what you would do in the timeline i have written you into

wondering if you might stay if my adjectives are right

i love with words too complicated, comprised from long searches 

flipping through pages of a thesaurus, 

circling each synonym across my tongue to test its merit,
deciding if i may ever be worthy of your affections in return

i love reckless within pages of smearing ink, littered in misspellings 

all the quiet words i’ll never say out loud 

worried i will misspeak, misstep, be unable to retreat
or replace my remarks as i do on my page

the universe will know the ways in which i have observed 

every syllable falling from your lips, with your hair wind blown, 

your eyes’ gazing downward glinting with the slightest moisture 

my pen will capture what has meant so much to you, 

turn each moment of you into pieces of me