speaking on behalf of every cell in every bone and tissue in my body

if u tell me u like me as much as i like u
then i will live in poetry. i will climb
mt. tamalpais and stretch my arm away
from my shoulder and my hand away
from my arm and my index finger away
from my hand to make it more convenient
for a bird to perch
and serenade the sky for me.

if u tell me u like me as much as i like u
i would get back to work with my dreams
intact and your dreams blended in, with your
ring in mind and my heart on my sleeve
and every shitty day will have a silver lining
that is u liking me as much as i like u.

and if u did tell me u liked me as much as i like u
but u needed time or u weren't ready to do anything
more than to like me then i would say "hey, i
understand" because i would and i would do
what i have always done -- which is wait for
something that might never happen.

but if u so happen to like me less (for liking
me more seems illogical or maybe even impossible)
then i would take a day to take a breath
and then do what i have done since i have met u:
which is to like u without caring if u like me.

i had promised myself last october that the words
i wrote on your birthday would be the last words
i would write for you forever. but a funny thing
happens when u feel like i do for as long as i have.
it is no longer a feeling but an institution that is
as sacred as religion, it could possibly even be one:
"the church of wanting to make u smile".

but if u feel the way u do (whatever it is u feel)
i will reflect on the things
that i have done this year (regardless of the outcome)
for this is love, not an obsession.
i am your sucker, but i am not mine.