This bowl of soup is a promise

Sometimes love pops up in your top 10
then quickly evades it
hit refresh, but still love’s face doesn’t show
and the work must go on
but what if?
maybe nothing.
but what if?
maybe something,
once upon a time
until time passes and love,
circles back.

As the saying goes
let it go
and if it returns
it’s just pretty damn persistent
but if stays
if it stays you can’t help but wonder
what would this life be like
if you missed?

But it found you.
Like love has a knack for finding everything
look up
and love is holding your phone
look up
and love is holding your keys
look up,
and love
is holding a spoon.

How love is a story told,
how it starts
over a bowl of soup
she, reaches out for bean sprouts
and basil leaves
slowly tears them apart to release their flavor
and he
follows suit
they drop jalapenos in the water
and heat builds between them.
Give them 95 years of
searching
finding
building
and always bring them back.

Dear,
this bowl of soup is a promise
a meal we will always return to
for when love grows cold
place your hands at its edges
feel the heat move into your palms
a reminder
that love is always
energy transferred,
and if it grows dark
it us,
who must work
to light this fire
let its smoke rise
and its smell cling to our sweatshirts
and in this way
we can bring love home.

Just to let love grow us back wild,
teach us to sleep under the stars
as if we were always meant to
make sun-heated tents and early wake-up calls
routine,
and just as love teaches
love learns
can exceed us in disguise
out-costume us
in our best dressed
out-cook us
in every kitchen
especially if it is our own
how love
helps fill us full.

But sometimes,
we get bigger just to shrink back small,
the little boy in him
still entertains anger as lover
and she
watches her younger self cry under covers
we know
there are moments
where even he can’t lift her back tall
it is here
he watches her tend to her little girl
it is here
where he must close the door,
and simply wait
for her return.

Dear,
if we’ve learned anything
(and how much we’ve learned)
it is that love
is not always enough
to pull us back up,
but look
at how soft
a landing.