(Don't) Tell Me

Don’t

tell me you loved me at first sight,

souls connecting from across the room,

spiritual magnets pulling us together until

you finally said that nervous, "Hi"

with a wobbly smile right before

spilling whiskey on my shirt.

.

Don’t

tell me how my eyes

glimmered like starlight,

laughter more melodic than the most

beautiful of windchimes,

Or how my hair was the wool

that they spun gold from,

fit for a king.

.

Don’t

tell me what I already know.

.

Tell me you loved me the moment

we went on our eleventh date,

a chaotic picnic under pear trees,

lunch abandoned to pesky ants and bees,

laughter rising and singing

then nestling in the tops of trees

where the sound then proceeded

to peer down below,

a sailor in crow’s nest

keeping watch for happiness ahead,

secure.

.

Tell me that you loved me the moment

we had our first fight, and I

cried out of frustration in your arms

before your gentle lips met my tears

and tasted my sadness

then decided that you never wanted to again,

and that was the first time we learned compromise,

learned that fragile hearts needed understanding

more than we needed to be right.

An unbreakable team was born that day,

and we haven't lost since.

.

Whisper into my skin the first time

you fell in love with my body,

traced my stretch marks with your lips,

caressed their mountains with your tongue

just to double check that the cartographer

did their job well before you then

leaned up to explore the topography of my mouth.

Like planets coming together,

terrain fitting like puzzle pieces,

we were and are beyond time,

ordained by the cosmos.

.

Cry that you loved me the moment

my hips cracked and from out of me poured new life,

our daughter spilling into this world

with battle cry ready,

and we both smiled so hard

I thought our faces

would remain stuck that way for the rest of our lives,

tears fresh rivers down our cheeks,

eternally joyful even in the midst

of challenge.

.

Tell me you love me

Not because of a random mystical pull of

soulmate bond from across the room

the first time we met,

But tell me you love me

because of every first look at me in all the

moments that came after,

heart falling harder and harder

into sweet oblivion.