That night I had caught your eye a few times,

 but I was choking on my insecurity,

words wrapping tightly around my throat.

So instead you watched me with an intense gaze

that pierced my soul, and the light from your eyes

shone in my heart and I felt a surge of peace,

and for that one fleeting moment

I wanted to plunge into your pupils,

to explore the color of your soul,

to memorize your laugh, and to learn your favorite memories.

I wanted to stay up late and talk about the weight of the stars above us

and the weight of the world below us.

I craved to point out my favorite constellation,

and discuss how insignificant we truly are.

I would say that the twinkling of the universe could be found

in the gleam of your tears,

and the supernovas in your very irises

set off blue and green explosions in my mind,

and with that simple gaze,

a whole new universe was created.

Thousands upon thousands of stars for us to explore,

galaxies and worlds undiscovered could be ours.

We would be careful to avoid

the treacherous voids and damning black holes,

but now and again, we would be consumed by darkness,

inevitably drifting among our demons,

clutching our sanity, and clutching each other.

I would draw you a constellation, pointing the way to happiness,

and the arrow would end at me,

and if that isn’t enough I would

create us a world in our little patch of darkness,

craft eruptions of stardust, and

maybe even let you delve into my gloomy brown eyes,

revealing the life that is knotted by tragedies,

hidden behind the hope for love.

Perhaps I could tell you about my stars

and you wouldn’t cringe

because the glory of life is that all creation is a work of art,

even if it was born out of hate and rage,

and as wrathful as time itself.

We could give a new name to star crossed lovers,

because we wouldn’t be crossed,

just entangled in each other,

and even though my light is faint,

it would sparkle for you.

So when darkness consumes you,

just look to the stars, point to the dimmest light,

and know that somewhere, I’m looking at the same star,

coaxing it to shine brighter,

just like I’m coaxing my heart to love deeper.