You know how this is:
if I look
at the crystal moon, at the red branch
of the slow autumn at my window,
if I touch
near the fire
the impalpable ash
or the wrinkled body of the log,
everything carries me to you,
as if everything that exists,
aromas, light, metals,
were little boats
that sail
toward those isles of yours that wait for me.
Well, now,
if little by little you stop loving me
I shall stop loving you little by little.
If suddenly
you forget me
do not look for me,
for I shall already have forgotten you.
yes: being kissed mid-sentence, finding twenty bucks in the pocket of the winter coat that’s been stashed away all summer, waking up to dorky texts from cute boys, finding your long-lost favorite sneakers, boston red sox, crisp new journals, creative urges, rolling down the windows while blasting bohemian rhapsody and belting it out with your mom, the smell after it rains, random acts of kindness, morning sex, balancing hundreds of chemical equations that your chem teacher from high school emails to you because he knows how much you love them, sexy red dresses, compassion, brand new haircuts that make you feel like a million bucks, being awake at four in the morning writing ridiculously dirty poems on your friends’ facebook pages, warm snuggly puppies, new friends, old friends, surprise birthday parties, painting beaten up wooden desks to make them feel pretty again, flannel shirts, chocolate ice cream, boys who kiss well, cowboy boots, penpals, aromatherapy lotion that smells like spearmint, crying just for the sake of crying because it feels good.
no: having your face covered in someone else’s spit after kissing them, burning your fingers while taking brownies out of the oven, when your tea gets cold, writer’s block, tripping over your own feet, having to say goodbye, being the only one home when it’s dark and gloomy out, having your heart broken, having to break someone else’s heart, losing your keys, when everyone forgets your birthday, when you tell your grandma not to put your favorite sweatshirt in the dryer because it’ll shrink but she forgets and puts it in and the sleeves shrink way up, finding a really creepy bug and not having anything to squish it with, forgetting your favorite book on the deck and then having it get ruined in a surprise rainstorm.