Let's Count the Ways

Let’s count the ways I could describe your smile.

Goofy with a stupid laugh.

Judgmental,

But only in the good way because

I never knew there was an attractive way of being jokingly judgmental,

But you, my dear, have perfected it.

Dorky,

The kind that you think is stupid but is really

So attractive.

Calming, in the same way I think a

Thunderstorm is calming"

Loud and wonderfully terrifying,

Like you know

Anything could happen at any second

But you’re not sure you want to play it safe anymore.

 

Let’s count the ways I could describe your eyes.

Saying your eyes are blue

Would be the biggest understatement I’ve ever spoken.

Saying your eyes are like

The sea after a storm"which is

Beautiful"

Still doesn’t quite touch it.

I could rattle off clichés like the authors of those romance novels you used to know I hate

And they still couldn’t match

The right shade of blue or the way they’re somehow always captured

Just right

And your unrealistically thick eyelashes and brows frame them

So perfectly.

I could never weave the right

Combination

Of words to describe the way

I could stare at them forever,

Even if I’d have to settle for a picture on a screen.

 

Let’s count the ways I could describe you.

Let’s count the words I’ve written and songs I’ve sung,

The pictures I can’t help

But stare at,

And the wishes and prayers I’ve made

In your name.

Let’s count the ways

You made me think it was real,

From calling me “princess” to telling me

How I never ceased to make your day.

Count the ways

I told you I cared for you without saying the words,

The ways you didn’t notice until someone

Pointed them out to you;

The ways you told me

I made you so happy and times you insisted

On spending with me

And times you told me you just couldn’t wait for the right moment anymore

Just to tell me we moved too fast.

 

Count the tears I’ve spent on you and the drinks

That burnt my throat;

The wasted wishes I can’t help but make

And the texts

My friends are sick of receiving.

Count the words I’ve written for you,

More than I’ve ever spoke about anyone or anything else,

More than I’ve ever said about me.

Count the things that I told you,

The way you said you would be better,

And the miles I’d be willing to drive without a second thought

If I even dreamed that you

Were in trouble.

 

Let’s count the ways I cared for you.

In the smiles that turned my brain off and in the poems

That were meant to be happy.

Let’s count the texts I saved from you,

The times my friends congratulated me on finding someone

Who swore would never hurt me,

And the pictures

I can’t let myself throw away.

 

Let’s count the ways you’ve changed from then.

The way your priorities

Aren’t your priorities anymore and the time you spend

Working a job that you still hate.

Count the nights you spend awake,

Playing games you thought were stupid, when staying up past eleven with me

Was a struggle.

 

Let’s count the times I’ve wished for you. The real you,

The one who knew what counted.