23.

Why is it so hard to share your love with the universe?

Did you forget about the ground beneath you?

Or do you prefer to think you have somewhere else to stand?

You have nowhere to stand.

Why did you pull away when the universe gave her hand

to let you feel?

Or sang her song that you would sleep?

Have you already determined the exact note

the summer crickets play

and find it tiresome to hear?

Or is it that the moon’s endless cycles

leave you feeling

occasionally abandoned?

Did you fail to notice she turns the stars on brighter for you in her absence?

That every star moves in to sit a little closer to you.

And the stars don’t just comply;

they sparkle for you.

All night.

And the owl nesting in the yard

checks on you in the dark.

You have everywhere to stand.

Have you seen enough of whales breaching?

Slightly blue lizards sunning in sidewalk cracks?

Old people who dance?

Older trees who stand upright?

The oldest trees offering ancient dramas to the ground?

What will it take?

Must I get on one knee and tell you first

how I love to spend this life with you?

Or have you heard enough of love itself?

Is the heartache of lovers a bore?

Would you prefer we stay at war?

Would you prefer the earth swallow our awe

at the end

so we don’t have to muster the courage to show it?