I try to avoid writing too many love poems; however, I'm making an exception today because I just got engaged, and I am breathing love poems.

It's sort of a long poem so I won't write too much of an introduction. My fiance and I have been dating for three years, mostly long distance. He flew up to visit me for his fall break and popped the question, and I very joyfully said yes!

This is my poetic attempt at capturing a piece of the moment:

The river has moved inside of me,
my bones now weathered into pebbles.
The trees have grown up through my skin;
when I move, I become the rustle of leaves.

If I close my eyes for too long, you are here.
I did not stop carefully enough to capture you:
one knee bent, eyes raised as if to look at stars,
but looking instead at me, into my heart.
Your face was radiant like the morning sun
bouncing off the water into the speckled sky.

I can still count on my fingers the days without you,
but already day one became a lifetime, and
in the quiet moments, my heartbeat is loud.

I can only say so many times that I miss you.
I can only say so many times that I love you.

We’ve speckled our mornings with hearts.
Fiancé in Spanish is prometida and prometido.
My Promised One, you call me now.

We talk about becoming a family, about weddings.
I think about the way your laugh sounds;
your smile creeping up almost against your will.
I think of the way your arms wrap against me.
I will always feel safest beside you.

I can still count the days on my fingers,
but I always get stuck on the fourth, at the ring.
My fragile lungs have not stopped accelerating,
all of me giddy in anticipation of our shared forever.

I can only combine ink in so many ways, and
I cannot explain the changing inside of me.
Peace has settled in like the last leaf of the maples
and my being is river currents drenched in hope.