I don\u2019t spend my nights
asking the universe where you are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve got work in the morning,
bills with my name on them,
people who count on me,
and a life I\u2019ve been building
with both hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still\u2026
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sometimes I catch myself
looking at the empty side of the couch
like it knows something I don\u2019t.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wonder what your laugh sounds like
when you forget anyone is listening.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What song you play twice
before admitting it\u2019s your favorite.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whether you drink your coffee slowly
or abandon it somewhere in the house
and swear somebody moved it.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I wonder what will annoy me about you.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because I don\u2019t want perfect.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perfect has never felt alive enough.
Give me stubborn.
Give me complicated.
Give me the woman who has survived enough
to know that love is not a rescue mission.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Come with scars you stopped hiding.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Come with dreams
that existed before my name
ever reached your mouth.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I want to meet you standing\u2026
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
not waiting for me to complete you.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ve spent too much time
becoming a man I respect
to ask a woman to disappear inside my life.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bring your own fire.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ll bring mine.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ll see what happens
when they recognize each other.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And when you finally arrive,
I probably won\u2019t say
I\u2019ve been waiting for you.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That sounds too much like
I stopped living.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I didn\u2019t.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I traveled.
I failed.
I rebuilt.
I laughed until two in the morning.
I learned how to eat alone
without feeling lonely.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I made peace with silence.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But I kept a place for you in it.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Not an empty space.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A place.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There\u2019s a difference.
Because somewhere between
the man I used to be
and the man I\u2019m still becoming,
I decided that when love finds me,
I want to meet it awake.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So take your time.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Become who you need to become.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kiss the wrong ones
if that’s part of the road.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Get lost.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Get wiser.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Change your hair.
Change cities.
Change your mind.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just don\u2019t shrink yourself
trying to arrive sooner.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m not looking for a woman
who needs me.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019m waiting for the one
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
who could live perfectly well without me\u2014
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
but looks across a crowded room,
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
sees me,
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
and thinks,
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There you are.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And God\u2014
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I hope I get to say it first.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I don\u2019t spend my nightsasking the universe where you are. I\u2019ve got work in the morning,bills with my name on them,people who count on me,and a life I\u2019ve been buildingwith both hands. Still\u2026 sometimes I catch myselflooking at the empty side of the couchlike it knows something I don\u2019t. I wonder what your laugh sounds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":10463,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"portfolio_post_id":0,"portfolio_citation":"","portfolio_annotation":"","openlab_post_visibility":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_ppma_block_editor_authors":"{\"authors\":[916],\"author_categories\":{\"916\":\"1\"},\"fallback_author_user\":\"3\",\"ppma_author_box_select\":\"\",\"selected_authors\":[{\"id\":916,\"display_name\":\"Jonathan Rivera\",\"is_guest\":0,\"category_id\":\"1\"}]}"},"categories":[435,915],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[916],"class_list":["post-10462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-culture","category-poetry-corner","has-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"\n