Some people asked me how
I know that this is love
And not a stupid crush,
Like the ones I used to get
When I was in sixth grade.

Or some kind of sexual frustration
I’m focusing on one person.

And my answer for them is:
How can this not be love?

Because what else can you call it
When you wake up with
Thoughts of them in your head
And you smile in the dusky light
And wonder ifyou dreamt of them

When you eat breakfast
Or go to class and wonder
What they’re doing right then

When you hear their name
And you smile without meaning to

When you see them and they wave
And your stomach does a back flip
And fills with butterflies

When they talk to you
And when you look in their eyes
You don’t just see yourself upside down
You see yourself whole

When the hug you,
Even a simple hug goodbye
Everything around you melts away
And for a moment
There is no more war
Or poverty
Or disease
Just the embrace

When you feel their lips graze yours’
Ever so slightly
It’s like an angel came down
And brushed your mouth with a wing

When you wish you could
Get a billboard
And paint the words “I love you” on it
And it only means
A fraction of what it says

When you lie awake in bed
Staring at the light that stands
Outside the window
Tears silently gliding down your face
Because you’re so happy,
It hurts

There is only word
That even begins to describe that feeling
And it isn’t “crush”
And it isn't “lust”

It’s
Love.