To Know You Is To Love You

I do not know how to go slow;
I do not know what that means.

I know how to be real,
To feel the world around me
In patient succulence;

I know how to breathe,
To let your words fill me
In brutally crashing waves.

I know how to embrace you,
To take, to cherish, to protect
Your precious, unspoken vulnerabilities.

I do not know what “slow” means.

I know that I love you.
I know I’ve always loved you
From the moment you laid eyes upon me,
Before I even saw you looking,
Before I even found you to be real.

I know that I’ve always wanted your power over me,
Your silent call to my attention;
And that I test it by trying desperately to pull away,
By trying as desperately to push forward,
To take control.

I know I have no control.

I know I am your woman.
I know you are my man.

I know I am your girl.
I know you are my boy.

I know I am yours, in everything.
I know you are mine, despite everything.

And I do not know anything.

I do not know how to take your kisses:
I do not know how to make them mine.

I do not know how to drink your essence:
I do not know how to make it pump through my veins.

I do not know how to have what I want with you;
I do not know how to live with you;

I do not want to live without you.

I do not know how to wait for you;
I do not know how to survive without knowing.

I hunger for your every knowledge,
stored in cells and memories and energy:

That of your body,
That of your mind,
That of your heart,
That of your soul.

I am released, undone,
plaintive, at your feet.

Please teach me
how to be
in love
forever
with you.