Foreign Syllables

I deceived you of the date,

For you knew it was approaching

Having held my heart in your hand

For many moons by then.

Every time I bent to tie my shoes

Had you excited and in shock,

So eager to ask you

The pressure of the surprise

Nearly made me burst.

I drove you in my rusted car

Broken exhaust screaming to you

That this would be the night

I offered myself forever.

We arrived at the place

Where we first walked alone together

It was rainy then and you borrowed

My brown coat, It was clear now

And the stars looked on eagerly.

Outside the library,

How fitting as we would

Spend a lifetime making a story

With one another.

Do you remember which song

It was we swayed to?

My heart beating so fast

In contrast to my slow stepping feet.

My face grew as red

Like the scarf, you wore that night,

My shoes they had no undone knot

When I went down on one knee.

Your hands went to your face

To try to keep the joy from escaping,

My mouth turned inside out

Bending in ways unnatural to itself

To ask you the question

I’d spent hours memorizing.

Do you remember

The foreign syllables

Leaping from my lips

When I used your tongue

To ask for your hand?