I asked you a question
Meant to be rhetorical
And yet your answer to it
Made me pause
And reflect on my assumptions
What started as just a flirty statement
Made me think I’ve let us both down
Though I haven’t the courage to change it
“Have I ever told you how much you mean to me?”
You answered, “no”.
And then I replied with, “oh”.
I thought it had been obvious
That you mean more to me
Than the words that have left my lips
In the way I look at you
The sway of my hips
I couldn’t tell you, “I love you”
Not in that moment
And not in the next
You haven’t given me reason
To trust you with my heart just yet
No encouragement from you
To share my vulnerabilities
I can’t run to you with my insecurities
And even though you have left every expectation clearly laid out in front of me
No complications
No dinner or movies
Just sex
I can’t help but look at you
Or smile when you fall asleep holding my hand
Mesmerised by the richness of your skin
The sweetness in your eyes
And the way your heart sounds in your chest
I think the world should see you
Through my lens
I need no encouragement to love you
Because you’re beautiful in all your imperfections
and I see a good man who deserves my patience
I relish your smiles
And the way you kiss me so softly
As if it were really just a dream
No, I haven’t told you what you mean to me
And quite possibly I will never
Express myself so openly
As I do on this paper
Which holds my heart
And bares my vulnerabilities
I will keep writing about you though
And someday, I hope that you will come to love me
And should you never find in me
What I have in you
at least I know that I loved you selflessly
Not needing any encouragement
Or promise from you
Poetry on Paper 