Five Years

It has been five years
since I first saw that face of yours.
Five years since these dreams of you began.
Now, I'm thinking of you, dreaming of you
as often as I can.

Though at the time I was numb
to the sheer enormity
and intensity of my feelings,
and pushed them to the back of my mind,
Five years on, I look back, fond
at my naive conformity.

Five years on, I'm freely wanting,
needing,
loving you.
I am not ashamed to let others know
of all the things I'd do
for you.

It has been five years
since that velvet voice
corrupted my ears.
Five years since I lay awake
each night,
paralysed with fear
of forgetting,
of losing you.
But five years on, I know my place
and yours,
my choice,
and my only forever.

Five years on, I know how many times I've tried to leave you.
And five years on, I know that's something I could never do -
because
Five years on, I know I am
unchangeably
in love with you.