love after midnight

i don’t want to show my soft insides

to anyone with sandpaper

for skin

i will show them to you

if you promise

to disappear after midnight

the glass slipper

kind of love

doesn’t shatter

it just…

retreats.

the way middle aged

couples

do

their kids leaving the nest

looking across at someone they’ve never seen

what remains

nothing

but the soft velvet 

pathway

of time lost

things gained

pages turned

weight

appetite

snowfalls

silence

burnt bagels

little plants

dirt

mistakes

whispers

and screams

and promises

love.

definitions

of people

places

and

things

love

to love

to be loved

to have loved

to have been loved

to be loving . . . 

most of all

definition:

my most at a given moment

but most of what?

most of my lungs

my breath

what i offer is what i can verbalize

most of my muscles

love in a physical sense

i will physicalize it

in my thighs

my cheeks

my smile

my fist

my feet

most of my heart:

what is this?

it is time.

i will be there

even after 

it 

is 

all

over

and the answer is

there is 

no answer

but time.

and the wind blows through the trees

wear a big coat

and look out only when you can bear it