SNWK: [Working Title]

When I greet you at the top of the stairs
with an unbuttoned button-down shirt
draped over my shoulders,
I swear
the look on your face
makes me feel like I'm wearing
a prom dress,
hair done up on top of my head
instead of tangled down my back;
makeup fresh on my face
instead of smudged under my eyes

You smile at me
like you have been
waiting for me to show up at the top
of this
staircase
for your entire life.

You smile at me
like you have spent years
just wanting to hold me tight,
checking your watch
every once in a while,
wondering
if I would ever show up.

And I did,
just a decade or two later
than expected.
I would apologize for being late,
but I know you would
slap me on the hand
if I did, say
"There's no reason to apologize."
and I wouldn't blame you.
Because although part of me
wishes I had gotten on the train
to this moment
sooner,
the rest of me knows
you would tell me
our pasts are
what brought us here, and
without them,
this moment
wouldn't have happened.

We all have our scars,
and we wouldn't be who we are now
without ours.
We wouldn't have sat in a diner
for four hours,
then moved to a coffee shop
for two more
if we didn't both love Andrea Gibson,
if we didn't both know
what it means to still be living.

You have a
labyrinth of doors
in your mind, love, and
I want to open them all
with the kind of hands
you'd use to turn the pages
of a hundred-year-old book
and tiptoe through the rooms
hidden behind your reserves
to see what's there.

I promise
I'll be careful.
You just have to trust me
not to break  you,
to take every kiss you give me
and hold it close,
and never forget
the look you gave me
that morning on the staircase.

-SNWK