What I Love You Can Mean

“I love you,” he says.

It means so much when being held on my bed,
head dangling away from where I should be looking,
unable to move from the sudden shock of what ever happened tonight.

Because being told, “I love you,”

can mean something much differently than what we’ve been taught.

While being told, “I love you,” he will also,

tell me that stars fell at the sight of every failure of mine,
while we all falsely hoped I’d at least tap the tip of the ozone layer.
They remember the time that I dreamed of the moon
racing to me, joyously congratulating me on space endeavors
only some dared to take.

Nowadays,

“I love you,” means asking why I drop into bed sheets every night,
knowing all I had done that day was watch reruns of sitcoms until 1am.
“I love you,” means asking why I fall into the gravel of this shrinking planet,
replaying the hits and misses that flash onto my brain’s screen just like
Big Brother’s announcement that he is forever watching you too.
“I love you,” means asking why trees only use their roots to plant me in one place.
“I love you,” means asking every question but never standing back once to listen.

“I love you,” also means telling me that disappointment is the only thing
I had created for nine months.  

And hearing the three words, “I love you,”
and everything in between
only reassured me
that I had stayed,
and had been
stuck
stagnant
stiff


because of you.

Author's Note

Pretty dark poem, I know. I didn't mean for it to become this dark; it just sort of ending up that way.

Reviews

[James O'Rourke]

This is a seriously emotional piece from you CLBombay. Probably the most so in the works of yours that I have read thus far. The language is strong and concise. My favorite portion by far is "stars fell at the sight of every failure of mine, while we all falsely hoped I’d at least tap the tip of the ozone layer." There's just such a beautiful image in there to me. I see you reaching for the edge of what encapsulates the planet, and falling just short, the stars from above falling with you.

The last stanza really finishes out the poem nicely too. After going through what "I love you" can mean in different forms and then capturing that stark realization that perhaps you had truly failed or been willingly trapped...what a freaking punch!

This may be my favorite one from you. Keep up the amazing work. I'm excited to see what else you come up with in the future!

[CLBombay]

James,
You're right, this is probably my most emotional one haha! I'm glad you like it so much - it just sort of flew out of my fingers as I was typing out this poem. I didn't have to think about it much which probably means every part of this piece is from my heart. Thanks so much for reading. You're great.

[Megan Lynn]

I really love this poem, the different more harsh versions of what "i love you" mean really stood out. Great job with this one.

[CLBombay]

Hey Megan,

Thanks so much!! Glad you liked it.