Scent of Vanilla

I love you. 

I'm sure of that 

the way I'm sure 

that I love the ocean 

and the scent of vanilla 

and the way raindrops 

dance across windowpanes. 

It's a kind of love 

that is so natural 

that it ceases to be an emotion 

and becomes instead 

a part of who I am. 

And when you leave 

parts of you stay with me. 

My lips are still heavy with your kisses, 

my skin still remembers the feel of your touch 

my heart still hangs somewhere up near my throat- 

my body refusing to believe 

that anything so perfect 

would have to come to an end. 

For so many years 

my pen has told tales 

of my empty, aching heart. 

You made me whole again. 

Maybe you made me whole for the first time. 

Maybe there are some things 

that I am destined to love 

that I simply haven't discovered yet 

and they're waiting for me to find them 

and realize I've missed them all along. 

And maybe you are one of those things- 

an unexpected part of me 

without which I would be incomplete.