Unconditional

"i hope this ode reaches u"

You
are a ten-year-old
love letter
beneath my bed
whose paragraphs
I have read about a
million times before
yet it still feels like the
first time when I say
the words out loud

You
are a love lost
whose map is tattooed
in the back of my hand
The beginning and the
end of roads have faded
over time but
the journey in between
still looks clear as
day

You
are a song
I haven't
played in so long
yet whose lyrics
I can sing perfectly
with a gun in
my head

You
are the madness
and the calm
the rise and the fall of
tides
The gravity that holds me
down when life grips me
in the neck
The wine in my thoughts
The regrets that are
still stuck in my throat
The love that I had
between a little while
and a lifetime