Never said they'd all be roses, and by the way, other things have thorns too.

the words escape me in the way that a woman eludes the grasp of a man who truly believes she is the only thing that he needs, that he will ever need, and in the same way that the same man later escapes a siren and her enchanting song, that, though beautiful, is a simple, haunting reminder of what got him into this mess.
but I can safely say that these words are not like you and they are not like me, and we are not like them.

Because what I feel for you does not make you run
it does not tie me down
or scare me
for once, I feel a certain contentedness that has yet to be matched
and for once I hope that this is the end of it
that I can stop hoping for something better because this is that something


and at the same time there is an uncertainty in my voice as I speak these words to you
a fear, almost
calm down, calm down
relax darling
for it has nothing to do with you
and never will
you have been nothing but good to me

can I be nothing but good to you?
I fear it at every juncture
that at some point I will slip and fall
and this rickety bridge to happiness you have built
you have built with your own hands
out of dirty pieces of wood, out of balsa and oak
scraps of buildings
will collapse
and I will fall and you will fall
and we will fall but not together
and you will look at me as though I have betrayed you
and I will look as though I have
and I will look into your eyes and see something new
(I always do, love, I always do)




no



I won't and can't
in the short time I have known you
corrections have been made
to my outlook
to my mannerisms
my life
you have changed me
and you yourself have changed
how could I allow all of that to disappear
for even a moment
how could I let your influence be forgotten
and in what vile way could I?
I love you in ways that frighten most men
and up until recently, I was weaker than most
but you've made me strong.



but how strong?


strong enough.