I love you
And upon every exciting discovery
I want to look for you, find you, jump up and throw my arms around you
Kiss your face with a thousand kisses
And share my excitement with you
In youthful enthusiasm
My unrestrained love for life
And the awesome unfolding of it
But, with emotional maturity,
I restrain myself
Contain my excitement
And write the words:
You inspire me
I appreciate you
I'm grateful to you
The world is so much better with you in it
It's appropriate
But it's not enough
And I'm disappointed
I want to express myself fully
Objectify you
Show you how beautiful life can be
Swept up in romance, lying on warm rocks heated by the sun, cool grass stuck to our thighs, passion, a clear dark starry sky with the constellations lighting our way
How can I find the words
To respect you
To respect your boundaries
To recognize your autonomy
To tiptoe on the edge of appropriate and inappropriate
Yet
Fully express myself
The tedious search for accuracy in my words
Is a painful, crushing, depressing death
Tears turn to fire
And from the pile of ashes, the baby poet is born
And begins babbling out
Alternate words
Deeper words
More accurate words
Words to describe the vast interpretations of love
And you can now write to the person who can never appreciate you
And tell them how much they are appreciated by you
And it will never be read by them
And maybe never read at all
And this is the true love
To respect the boundaries of the person you love
To not try to bind them and keep them
And not to interrupt them with youthful enthusiasm
But to remain silent
And to sit quietly and write