virtue

I’ve been here my whole life

waiting to be recognized

waiting for you to see me the way I see you even though we’ve never met and everything that we were is still yet to come.

I am here, love. I’ve always been here, behind your ear, at the back of your knee, even before you knew who you were.

I will always know you, even when you have stopped bothering to look.

Because everything that you are lives in me also,

and I have spent years poring over your pages, memorizing your lines, the way I know my favorite poem. By heart, with heart.

I am here, my love.