Above all, I cherish you.

I count you among my blessings;

 

When your words hang off my lips, or when your music echoes in my ears,

when my laugh owes itself to you,

when I leaf through the maps you left in my mental atlas, walk down streets

we can’t return to,

when I trace your imprints on me I am honored.

My self is tinged with a shade of yours.

 

I’ll never know which of my fragments live on in you,

but I am no longer the person with whom you shared them. 

It comforts me just as much as it stings

to understand the same is true of you.

 

The impermanence of “we” constricts

Temporally

The permanence of “you.” 

This does not alter your resonance.

 

Thank you for your sojourn in my irreparably tattered sneakers—

I can assure you that on my end, every step was in earnest.

I am forever grateful that our paths crossed, and

I can’t wait to meet you.