Poem: The Stars that Lie Between Us

The rain fell softly that night,
Like the tears from my eyes
As I told you my fears and my dreams,
And secretly hoped that you weren’t really listening.

But you would smile,
And every once and a while you would say something:
The perfect words fell so easily from your mouth.
Slowly I let my guard down.
I told you more.
My tears dried.
(All the while, secretly hoping that you weren’t really listening,)

And time went by,
As it tends to do when you’re having fun.
A watched pot never boils,
But oh, how our pot boiled.
The clock gently tick-tocked.
My heart sang a joyful song.
We danced on the Milky Way
And laughed at how bright the stars were!
(But still I hoped that you weren’t really listening.)

I would come to you in the middle of the night,
With my latest abstract thought.
You’d laugh and say:
“What a silly Van Gogh gal I have found.”
I would giggle coyly and roll my eyes.
And you would take my hand and tell me stories:
Of pirates,
And robbers,
And princesses,
(Though in your stories, I was always the princess:
You saved me
From the dragons,
And the evil kings.
Riding in at the very last second
On your brilliant white horse.)
I’d listen to your tales,
With open ears and an open mind.
(Starting to wonder if you were really listening.)

Sipping hot chocolate,
You’d strum your guitar,
As I hummed along--
Harmony found within such polar voices.
And we joined an imaginary circus!
A two man show.
You’d smile as I danced with the clowns.
And catch me when I fell off the high wire.
You’d spin me around.
And kiss me ever so softly on the forehead.
(I secretly started to hope that you were listening.)

The man on the moon wore his jolly grin,
As we skipped beneath his shadow.
You always were such an intelligent conversationalist:
I knew I loved you then.
You picked me wildflowers and drew me pictures,
And wrote me poems about birds and butterflies.
We’d sit on a blanket,
In a field,
On deep dark nights,
And you’d point out the constellations:
Orion, Pegasus, Lyra
And all the stars in between.
I’d joke and dream of taking a star home,
And keeping it in a jar by my bedside,
Like I always used to do with fireflies.
(I started to pray that you were listening.)

You would sit at the foot of my bed,
And watch me sleep.
I’d dream of far off places.
Where you and I would be alone,
We’d sit on a beach,
Eating tropical fruits and playing in the sun,
The stars would be so bright there.
And the moon would be so big.
But then I would awake,
You would be gone,
In your place, a crumpled piece of paper.
And scribbled in blue ink I read:
“I was listening all the while”