By Ali
Date: 2007 May 08
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[[2007.05.08.08.26.3945]]

Devil May Care

You made me braver, then,
inexplicably incapable of surrender--
but surrender I did.  You remember
that, I trust.  You were always
playing
hide-and-seek with my smile,
and I was always turning your heart
inside-out.  Never mind the sheets.

I know it's you.  
I know, without knowing.
It's just my way.  And I can't
tell you why, or how, but I know when,
like breathing underwater:
it just happens.

I won't even ask you
where you've been, or why
you stayed away so damn long
(well, not right away--eventually).
But hell if I won't kiss you
like I mean it,
exactly like I missed you,
exactly like it's been far too long.

Walk into the room, filled with a hundred people
who know my face, remind me
that gone does not mean forgotten,
and leaving does not mean unloving,
and show me how much
coming home means to you
(and by 'home', I mean me).

I know you love me,
and it's just a matter of time
before you burn the world down
(your world)
to prove it, on just another May day,
against impossible odds
and ridiculous circumstances.

And when you do,
when you're there
with that devil-may-care smile
and combusting starlight in your eyes,
when you hold me without asking
because you know you don't need to,
even still--when you find me
I promise
to make it worth your while.