In Here

Maybe I’ll keep you in just here-

In sentences arranged to pretty paragraphs

In lines and verses,

In stanzas that so often do not rhyme.

Maybe it’s just in poems

That my dream of love be closer to reality

Because I can only keep you

In here.

Maybe I’ll just keep you in papers

Show my affection in inks scribbled across.

Tell you “I care” by sharing poets who write

The ones my heart couldn’t say

Because it is easier to borrow their works

Than to risk further, our “friendship”, as you say.

Maybe in here, in pages you inspired,

That I fold on top right corner

That I cling to, and visit to remember

That once, my love broke barriers

Of “could-not-be’s” and “what ifs”

Because, in here, in my poems

You’ll stay longer, maybe even forever

It is in here that I will love you

Because you cannot let me love you in any other way.