Before you leave,

I hope you look at me.

 

I hope you sit next to me.

I hope you smile and I hope you mean it.

I hope you ask me

About all the things I say

And about whether it means nothing or everything.

 

Grow up with me.

 

Alongside each other, hand in hand

With an infinite amount of time on our side.

We’re kids.

We think all the sand in the hourglass belongs to us.

 

Know that you came into my life like a hurricane in autumn.

I knew nothing about you or how you were made.

Or where exactly you came from.

But you were astonishing, so

I wanted to know.

 

Everything.

 

Come with me and be 97 per cent stardust.

Come with me in arms and be human.

 

Look at my smile and take into account

My crooked teeth and the scar right under my nose.

 

I’m not perfect.

No one is flawless, and the exception isn’t you.

But that’s what makes you perfect.

That’s what makes me and the rest of the world perfect.

 

But remember that because of every single scar or freckle or imperfection I see on your body,

I feel like crying.

Not because you’ve been hurt or because your skin has sinned.

But because

You’re so imperfect and it’s so unexpected and beautiful.

 

You.

 

You can almost never finish a sentence, and you say it’s embarrassing when people finish them for you.

You turn a shade of pink I like,

And I’ve never seen you cry.

 

Your favorite color is green.

You like amethyst.

 

I think that’s funny.

Maybe it’s great.

 

You think I’m a poet but really it’s you.

The way you stretch your nose to the sky and sigh every time we go outside.

Nice weather or not.

It’s your face that tells the poem.

 

I tell you about the clouds incessantly, but you never seem to mind how often.

 

You get embarrassed at your own stories like they’re not interesting or like you’re not telling them like you want to.

 

Go ahead and think through your story.

I can wait five seconds or five years,

 

But make your story perfect.

 

When you go back home,

Back across the globe wherever you will be

You’ll probably forget I even existed.

 

I’m okay with that.

I’m not sure I am yet.

 

But promise me you’ll grow up and love every second you’re alive because

I won’t forget you.

 

I want to be assured you’ll be alright and

That you keep smiling and being great and being

Absolutely

Imperfectly

Perfect

 

I wonder if you’ll leave like you came.

Like a hurricane.

 

I hope you don’t forget about me.