i don't have to
make you love me

and i'll say three words,
not the ones everyone expects.

stay with me

i don't need you
to kiss me

or run your hands
through my hair,

i just want
to look at you,

to burn the image of your smile
into the back of my mind

so that whenever
i close my eyes,
i only see you

stay with me

i don't need for you
to give me your love

i can keep going,
one foot after the other

when you hold her hand
and give her
your heart,

but i just want
the parts of you that last,

the parts
that go beyond
heart shaped chocolate and red valentines

the parts
that go beyond
perfectly polished fireplace mantles
and neatly trimmed hedges,

the parts
that go beyond
good times and good time friends
and never letting go,

i just want the parts
that are
the raindrops,
of your soul

stay with me

i don't need you to say
those three words
everyone expects you to,

i don't even need
to hold your hand,

i only need to feel you,

i only need to know you,

i only need for you
to be
the parts of me,

the parts that last,

and,

i only need for you to

*stay with me

.

*Whispering fog on a dense morning breathes,
muting thoughts of where the daylight has gone
Silhouette tree branches silent and gray
wave on tepid winds,
misted endeavors weavimg desperate desires

Loss has claimed every color I have seen,
stark realities in the visions now cast on my heart
Emptiness leaks upon unsuspecting dreams,
imagination finds nothing beyond this aching chest,
merely opaque outlines with little meaning

Vast is this enclosure that harbors my eyes in caged sight,
fence posts and wire strung in patterns of locked decisions
aimlessly meandering a vacuous expanse
Chained link desires that can’t find the gate,
only mailboxes of memories never sealed or stamped

I walk this lonely path as it is my job, my destiny
A soul’s responsibility to wonder with longing eyes
where you might be on this,
my day with no sun, no color, no beauty, no love
And I miss you, for you were all of those things to me