Love

That's the way you make me feel-
Happy.

I remember sitting there,
Paintbrush in hand,
Your eyes on mine...
And somehow
The most unromantic music
Became ours.

I remember driving to the beach,
My mind everywhere and nowhere at once,
Your body beside mine...
When my head fell to your shoulder
And suddenly
I couldn't ask for a better pillow.

But most importantly,
I remember you
Stepping up to my side
As he walked away,
Leaving me in your care.
And though no one could have guessed it,
Here we are,
4 years later,
With an unbreakable bond.
Because you look at me
And you see me.

You see my demons
And you understand,
Because you have your own.

You see my insecurities and need for control,
And you give me everything you can.

You see the scars I've been left with
As everyone else has walked away...
And you,
The orphan,
Refuse to ever let me feel that way again.

I don't have to hide,
Not from you.
You give me everything.
You take nothing.
You don't coddle me,
But you step up when you see me breaking.

When he walked away,
Running from his own demons,
I thought my heart would never heal...
How could it heal after something like that?
But the truth is,
If he hadn't abandoned me
Like a puppy on the street,
Or if you hadn't already loved me,
If any one
Of the million choices we've made
Had not been chosen,
I would never have gotten you...
The you that you are with me.

And if you weren't the you
That I know you to be,
I wouldn't be here-
At all.
Because it's you
That ties the knot
And reaches out
To grab my hand
When I feel I'm falling.

And it's you
That makes everything possible.
You make me possible,
You make us possible,
And I may never know
How two broken souls
Fit together so beautifully,
But we do.
And I love that our story is ours.

It's perfectly imperfect,
With scars and horrors
Dotting the way,
But I wouldn't trade one moment,
Not one with you.
As you hold me together
When I'm falling apart.
Or when you make me smile
In a way no one else can.
Or how you give me butterflies
When you watch me undress.

I choose you.
In every version of every life,
In every choice of every day,
I choose you.
The broken man
That stands beside me,
The equally broken girl,
Who together,
Make a beautiful soul.