Aylee Gabourel
Is this a crush or am I confused,
because why is it that the world goes quiet when you look at me?
Why is it that my chest tightens without warning,
and I don’t know whether to breathe or stay still when you’re near.
When I see you, it’s like recognition without memory–
as if my heart knows a language my mind never learned.
Your presence pulls at me gently,
like the way the tide tugs the shore without asking permission.
I feel warm and unsteady,
certain and afraid,
All at once.
I noticed everything:
the way the light seems softer around you,
how your voice settles somewhere deep inside me,
how my thoughts drift towards you even when I tell them not to.
You make me feel exposed,
like you can see parts of me that I never learned how to explain.
I don’t know if love is supposed to feel this uncertain,
this tender, this heavy, this alive.
But if confusion is the price for feeling this deeply–
of wanting to be closer without knowing why–
then maybe this trembling, beautiful unrest is love learning how to speak.