tell me
what is love?
i thought i knew
on that saturday evening
when the stars were shining
like the slick pavement
on a beautiful
rainy night
but all i knew
was the beat
of your steady heart.
is it the same thing?

i love the rain
so do you
it matches our souls
dark and beautiful
in times when there
aren’t words to say
it expresses us
in a silent way

saying this aloud
for the first time,
it seems cliché
but then again
so is “i love you”
and i do, i do,
i say it all the time
or at least
i think it

so as far as cliché may go
at the moment
while i love you
(or at least I think i do
for I don’t know
what love is…yet)
i don’t mind.

so what is love?
is it a game of pretend?
is it more
than the sum of its parts?
or is it the merging
of two lonely souls
chasing each other
like a dog after its tail?
when i bite the coin,
will it bend under my teeth?

only time will tell
and time
is a harsh mistress
she will not yield to anything
no matter
how politely
you ask her.

and as for now
i do not know the answer
what is love?
i want to know
so that i’ll know
when i am in it
and not let another opportunity
slip away between my fingers
before i get the chance
to grasp it

i want to know
what love is
but most important
i don’t want it from
just any old face
or any old place

the fact is
in a rain-soaked epiphany
that melted the ink
of your all-too-rare smile
into my spinning mind
indelible, not to be erased

i realized something
i might want it
from you
and you alone
so tell me
please

what is love?
tell me so I might know
if we can have it
or if I might feel it
for you