{ the dare }

i wouldn't mind, you know, if you made a big deal out of me.
with you, i could be happy without trying. 
no one ever needs you as much as you want them to,
and no one probably should.

i am no one's first and everyone's second.
i'd almost rather be last. i'd almost rather lose by a league
than be that close with no prize. no one ever loves you
as much as you thought they would. 

he sings from his heart that he still hasn't found
what he's looking for and i wonder if we ever do.
only to be with you, he says. i don't know
if i believe him, as much as he sounds like he means it.

just once, would you blow up a thousand balloons
in all my favorite colors with all the breath in your lungs
and plan something big, something really big, something
as big as i've been waiting for my entire life, something i
won't have to check my expectations on, something to
make it all worthwhile. will you do that for me? (do i even
have to ask?) put yourself on the line, spend your life on
my behalf, do what i wouldn't dream you could. i
promise i'll be thankful, i promise i'll never forget it. and
whether we stay together or not, you will be that oval pearl
weighing the strand a little to the left, a little shinier than the rest,
just underneath my collarbone, leaving a mark. you'll
always be there, for the rest of my life. for the joy, for the love, for the
sheer glory of it, meet me in france. summit the mountain,
ford the river, take my breath away.

{ s.r. }