1. For the longest time I thought I could determine what love is the way they do in movies. That to be in love would be to fill pages of lined paper with your name strung in hearts between the letters of my own. I thought love was simple, unassuming, hidden between the pages of a notebook. But loving you is wanting to paint in the sky. To write with fire. Love is wanting to scream your name and raise you a monument.
2. Do you remember the Nike of Samothrace? At the Louvre she has her own towering alcove at the end of a flight of stairs. I’ve seen the photos: imagined the feeling of climbing, each step leading to something profound and unmatched, and at the top she awaits like some crowning jewel, 8 feet in victory. You are that feeling.
3. You are composed of all my favorite contradictions. You’re honeyed iced tea and peppermint lemonade in the summer and long sleeved sweaters and hot coffee. You’re the mountain cradles tucked inland and the wine-dark sea in the winter.
4. I exist to be your broken hourglass. I’m not sure if the sand is escaping through the cracks or stuck in a standstill. Regardless, I’m having trouble keeping the time.
5. How sweet it is to be loved. So why darling do you taste of ashes?