What more need I say?
I have confessed my love
With a stolen glance
With another half-smile
With a word or two
And yet I sense that you are still unclear
As to whether I am
Anything
At all:

Let me refresh your memory.

A winter or so ago
You wept
When you told me that things had died
And I had to hold back my tears
To dry yours
And because it was too cold
To cry.

We used to laugh
At couples who were mismatched
And you never saw your vibrant beauty
You never saw my shaking
Or my pale face
Or my staring eyes
We were not mismatched: just opposites

But anything can work
And we worked
At what we had, throughout the summer and the autumn months
And I would wear black
And you would joke about it
But black is slimming
So it is fine, say I

One moonlit night, we made our own romance
In your basement
With a camping table
And two plates of chips
And a candle I had bought you
And we listened to a song that we adored
And I think you leant across
To kiss me
Because we were in love.

I see you again, and I shiver, because
I know I will not control this
Awful tenderness,
This undying adoration
And a shadow of what we had
Lingers on
I am not afraid
I shall stand aside.