Seconds

Before the first second I saw you,
I was incomplete.
Deep, but nowhere near seeing
To the bottom of my heart;
Immersed in emotion,
But not to the point
Of drowning,
Slowly and all at once,
In the raging sea 
Of you.

Before the first second I saw you,
I was lonely and afraid,
Directionless in the face
Of the unrelenting storm.
I lived within the confines
Of the walls I'd erected
To keep my heart in tact--
What was left of it anyway--
Innumerable tiny pieces 
Patched together with the tears
Of empty lies to myself
And a foolish dream
That I could possibly be enough
To be loved one day,
Not by a boy or a man,
But just by one singular human
Out of seven billion.

You opened the front door,
Unfamiliar and foreign at the time,
And the before seconds passed
Through my downcast eyes.
I looked up.

In the first second I saw you,
I was captivated by your eyes,
The color of a rain-kissed forest
With dappled summer sunlight
Somehow finding a way to the ground. 
The sincerity of your countenance
Was etched into every fleck of gold
And punctuated the inexplicable mystery
Of the endless shades of green.
Warm and inviting,
Guarded and cautious,
You couldn't help unintentionally
Drawing me in.
I crossed the threshold.

In the first second I saw you,
I felt the strangest shock.
It coursed through my body,
Resonating and resounding,
And somehow fixed my heart.
Each piece evaporated
In the wake of the sun,
Each still retaining its identity
And each becoming one.

In the first second I saw you, 
Forever passed before me,
My past and present and future
Merged into one eternity.
It felt like years,
And it felt like the second it was.
Seven billion people
Living their lives
And our paths crossed.

You looked right through me;
My walls crumbled into rubble.
I was left standing unguarded,
Vulnerable and terrified
Of what you meant,
Not just to me,
But to my defense.

And then the second second passed.

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