Superlatives Fail

Willamette River, Eugene Oregon

Superlatives fail.

When I look into the pattern of your eyes

Or feel the soft touch of your lips on mine,

Drown in the smell of your long hair,

Gasp to calm my unwieldy heart,

Superlatives fail,

Cannot convey how I feel about you

Or describe what you mean to me.

Suddenly silenced, I tell you true

Make me be quiet and kiss me

Superlatives fail.

When I stumble over common words to comfort you,

Trip over your feelings with my thoughtless jokes

Or diminish the meaning in your recollections,

Balk at the attention you give to others

Or wriggle under your smothering presence,

Superlatives fail,

And apologies are flat and empty

When my soul speaks to yours

But I fear the connection lost

Incomprehensible static roars.

Superlatives fail

Where I cannot tell you how I love you

And how I've lost you forever,

Where I can't pronounce my profound sadness

To anyone, but the streetlight lined night

Blurry and humbled and sickly.

Superlatives fail

To describe the dreams that haunt

Nights without anyone by my side

Recently, something I do not want,

This, to you, I must confide.