Back when no one spoke of love
because it was too hard to explain,
daddy use to tell stories at the dinner table
using salt and pepper shakers,
and mommy would listen
but I would not,
because children
did not listen to salt and pepper shaker stories.
Maybe if I had listened just a little bit harder
mommy and daddy would still love each other.
But I never listened
and daddy never stayed.

A few years later
daddy still told stories around the dinner table
using forks and knives and empty plates
to people who never cared and never listened
and mommy wasn’t around.
But I still was
and I was the only one to listen.

His stories weren’t of love,
or life
or anything anyone would remember tomorrow
or the next day,
but if I learned anything from those
salt and pepper shaker stories
and the fork and knive tales,
it was
never fall in love

and I never did.

He touched her like
he had never felt anything like her before.
From collarbones to hipbones,
to the birthmark on her hip to the curve of her neck
He kissed her like he’d never been kissed.

She trembled like it was her first time
and maybe it was, she couldn’t remember.
All she knew was the tips of his hair and the bottom of his feet and everything in between.
Her heart was beating out of her chest and into his,
and if he could he would capture it and keep it forever.
She kissed him like she had never been kissed.

But time was short and they had been here before,
Knowing you can try and try again but not get it right.
And maybe all those other lovers before were wrong
But this felt so right,
Because it felt like they had never been kissed.

As I stood there in the ocean
it was as if the current were moving me,
and if I held real still
and closed my eyes,
it was if I could feel the earth moving beneath my feet.
Eyes shut tight,
I could understand why people did such things
as jumping from an airplane, or leaping through fire, or battling tigers
or fall in love.
I could understand why people smiled and laugh and danced
and lived.
The waves crashed up against me
strong enough to take me away,
and I realized there will always be forces that are stronger than you and I.
But as you came to stand beside me
and you, too closed your eyes,
I knew I could jump from an airplane, leap through fire, battle tigers, fall in love, smile, laugh, dance,
live.
There will always be forces greater than you and I,
but you held my hand and kept me upright as the waves bashed against us,
and that's all that matters.