This is How I Love You

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When I tell you I love you
It will not be a benediction
It will not spring from my chest
Like a breath I’m holding
And letting loose into a sigh

When I tell you I love you
It will not be proverbial
It will not hold the weight of the years
We spent running back and forth
Between precipice and paradise

When I tell you I love you
It will not be a rebellion
An act of defiance against fortuity
That created an impassable gulf
Where certainty used to be

When I tell you I love you
It will not be for reciprocity
I am not giving you my soul
So you will hand yours in a cage
And I can keep it hostage for eternity

When I tell you I love you
It will not come out as poetry
It will not echo Tagore, Neruda, or Qabbani
The words will unfurl like the break of dawn
But they will not make you immortal

My I love you
Is neither a threat nor a promise
It is not meant to delight or surprise
My I love you
Is a truth that needs no supplement