Time is a girl with curly hair that bounces with every step and twirl she takes

She talks with her hands but never fails to find the right word to say

She can be by your side one second and gone the next

Getting lost in the crowd is fun to her

I seduced Time

I brought her thorny flowers, held her worn hands and kissed her softly

I caressed her flushed cheeks and played with her hair, long like a timeline

I ran my hands along her battle-won scars and her strong but delicate body

The boy from the apartment below yours writes you letters about the birds and calls you a sunset.

“Tu sei il sole del mio giorno.” You are the sunshine of my day.

I remember the guilt I had as

A nine year old girl

When I kissed another girl

Just for fun.

I wouldn’t have

If she didn’t lead me on

Freckled

Blue eyes

Red-brown hair.

After the first time she kissed me

Our love was born out of infinity,

Full of promises and late-night murmurings.

We chased each other around and around the loops of our symbol,

Never ceasing to catch our breath,

Never stopping to let our minds catch up with our words.

If loving yourself is a drug, then I am slowly becoming an addict

A habit like this isn’t hard to fall into,

I didn’t even have to try

It just felt so good,

I didn’t want to stop

High on pure admiration

Love everlasting

Love is only lasting

When you put yourself last

Kinder a love within lantern light flames and

Let the wax drip to seal the cracks of your previously broken heart

Redeem your wrinkled hands and

I have so many secrets to tell you through soft poems and open mouthed kisses on rosy flushed cheeks of best friends turned lovers and onto mothers and peaches bought from roadside shacks on small town access roads; toothy grins slyly hanging onto our faces —