“Would you change for me?”
“No.”
“Would you change for you?”
“No.”
Have I really changed for you
in any way
that I didn’t want to?
I don’t understand you.
I don’t understand us.
I don’t even understand myself,
but I’ll be sure to ascribe
some higher moral motivation
to my rationale
and my actions,
than I do to yours.
What a strange world we’re in.
Two people
out of billions
and we could care less
about the rest.
This singular
connection
means more
than war,
and fear
and death itself.
No other thing in life
assuages
all the pain,
and guilt,
and shame,
but produces the same in spades,
and begs us to fight for it.
We’ll hurt each other
every day,
we’ll get past all the
disarray.
Come together and be stronger
than life itself,
but break each other apart.
“Do you love me?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Do you want me?”
“Yes, I do.”
We are two people
as estranged as two stars,
but somehow,
bound in binary.
You and I.
Me and you.
Somehow this is what we choose
over all the other
stars in the darkness,
our light to fuse.
Into one brilliant fire,
which will only last
our whole lives.
What good
is life without it?
I don’t know.
I can’t imagine
life without you.
“Will you miss me?”
“Yes.”
“You know I’ll miss you too, right?”
“I know. I just wish
it didn’t end.”
DJR – 2022
