One day – I was already an adult – 
I slipped unknowingly into my love story
a chance smile enchanting me
obscuring my fear
long enough to jump.

“I’ve known you forever”
unspoken words kindling the dream
that began for me generations ago
a heritable memory from
the haphazard grace of natural selection.

Distractingly intense at the onset,
love stories, like love dreams, often end
way too early
dying as we grasp for what was
failing to imagine how the story might continue.

Where does our love go
as decades fade its youthful zeal?
A skill to be practiced
promising memories
of an unknowable future
holding you near to me.