love letter

i am
writing you this letter in the hopes that you
recognize my handwriting from the notes i passed you when we were in middle school
three eternities ago
pubescent passion evident in pen's haste
entreating you to choose 'yes' or 'no'
impatiently waiting for the note to return with
a small check mark signifying mutual emotion

do you remember when

two eons ago, i
left slips of paper on the pillows of our marriage bed
miniature written accounts of how you had appeared to me in my dreams
little pieces of poetry, just for you


and last lifetime
around this time of year
we sat underneath our favorite tree that
we had branded with our initials ages before
i asked you to marry me by
pressing a handwritten proposal against your palms
mouth too shy to say the words and
fingers too honest to hide the truth

i think my hands loved you first
professing their adoration in every dotted 'i', every curved 'u'
our history documented in hieroglyphic print
read these words and know that they were written in love
see us in each and every letter
as we were, as we are
and as we will be.