Sometimes I count backwards from ten
and when I get to one, BOOM!
there's an explosion.
Perhaps it is a rouge planet
crashing into Earth
or some other major catastrophe.
After I realize that nothing happened
I feel relieved
and at the same time
a little disappointed

I think of you at ten- the first time I saw you.
Your smile at nine
and how it lit up something inside me
I had thought long dead.
Your lips are eight pressed against mine
and at seven, your breath in my ear
and your hands everywhere.
You tell me you love me at six
and at five we have our first fight.
At four we have our second
and at three our third.
At two you tell me you cannot go on like this any longer
and then at one, you ask me to stay.

And I am relived, so relieved-
and a little disappointed.