to the dinosaur destroyed by the stars:
i wish i loved you sooner. sooner—when you were an arm's breadth away from me. when i was cold and your skin projected the warmth i couldn't seem to find even after trekking the earthly trails they set for me. when i could see your eyes, and when they would meet mine. when your being was solace and your mind a mystery. sooner—when the world thought your presence was enough to keep it sated. sooner—when we weren't acquaintances nor mere strangers, not enemies nor lovers; we were companions fending ourselves from carnivores and weathering rocks. i wish i loved you sooner—when we were enough.
i found myself drinking in watering holes without you in sight. i wish i loved you back when time was kind.
then there came a drought.
i wonder if you were frightened when the ground rumbled and when fields were set aflame. have you felt the cracks creeping and lingering in our valleys? i could have looked at you when the pitch black of the sky decided to rain light. i wish you were near me when the world coveted you for itself, because then our last memories of each other would be of us struggling to survive together and not apart.
seeing your corpse wouldn't have been so painful if i told you i loved you from the start.
