Is This Where

I saw you in my brother’s kitchen,

wearing that polkadot print silk dress,

black dots on the white background

playing off the cream of your skin.

Your hair wasn’t as red as I remembered,

but the green in your eyes matched the shade of those

kickass Doc Martens

and your smile was just as radiant.

We were introduced, again, after all this time

and I knew it was you.

You took my breath away then, just the way you did

the last time I saw you – 373 years ago.

I was wondering if you’d turn up again, hoping you would,

almost wishing you wouldn’t, because I was just a scribe then,

scratching out marks on paper to please the Idiot King,

and not much has changed for me now.

I suppose I’ve still got things to learn, since I keep showing up like this.

Maybe you’ve things to teach me, since you keep meeting me here.

Perhaps you’ll find me just past the corner where my terror meets my wounds,

And maybe, this time, I’ll be strong enough to reach for your hand.

In the meantime, I’ll do my scribe thing on this different kind of paper.

Perhaps, Princess, I’ll be strong enough to show you,

be strong enough for you to know

how I’ve loved you all this time.