I remember us in the fall
when my scarf still had wrinkles from being crushed in a drawer
and my eyelids fluttered like the leaves on the trees
whenever you looked my way.
I remember the apple slices you put in my mouth
sticky sweet crushed against my cheek
and I can’t help but think
if the sun had a smell it would be those apples
and if love had a smell it would be the inside of your jacket
right where my nose fits against the zipper.
You would think the scholars would mention when
the Earth finally righted itself on its axis.
But nowhere in the grooves of words could I find
the slip of the moment
sometime after Rome fell
as the planets hurtled around the sun
when your hand quietly slipped into mine.
Pulse-on-pulse
two rattling wayward railway cars
attached just enough to keep each other on the track.
It’s always the stupidest things that make me cry
but in that moment
it occurred to me that you are the smartest thing
to have ever brought tears to my eyes.
I thought I would make you a fountain of words
but it would only burble pretty things without much meaning
which is quite the opposite of us, really
because our pulchritude is less than appealing
but hell if we don’t know how to laugh.
I will be your Juliet without the suicide
if you’ll be my Superman without the kryptonite
and darling in these nights
we’ll have no choice but to keep each other warm.