but the truth is
i'm relieved.
it's almost as if my life up till nowhas been spiraling towards this moment
when the lines finally crease
folding in toward a centre
i'd been holding,
waiting for the rest of me
to catch up.
welcome.
i find, in the sloshy aftermath
of a household war state,
that true love means
you can both look at each other's gaping flaws
with patience, and controlled rage,
and eventually all of that cooks down,
like a plummy applesauce,
cinnamon and pulpy
toward a sweetness, resonant with spice
loving each other in spite of it
because of it
and the smile lines
emerge whether we willed them there or not,
because true love means
you laugh when you didn't mean to,
and forgive it all
in the end.
