Can You Give Me This Before You Go?

Can I have just one more kiss? And maybe one last hug to feel your warmth? One last chance to hold you near and then I’ll go and disappear. One more minute is all I need if you can’t give me even just an hour. I’ll go and let you be after you give me one more chance to trace the outlines of your face. I’ve taken mental pictures of you, of us, but I’m scared it might not be enough. Let’s go on one more date and pretend like everything’s okay. Let’s laugh around and talk about the deeper things in life while I silently hope the night never ends. Let’s do the things we did when we just started going out—before we realized we were falling in love, before the words made it concrete and the pressures of life weighed us down. Because in the smiles and the happy times were the anxious in-betweens and worries that bug me every now and then. When they come, they won’t let me be, and I couldn’t turn to you to reassure me. And now as I look into your eyes—the pair of eyes that used to light up when they saw me, the same pair of eyes that concealed lies—they remind me of nights with my head resting on your chest as you run your hand through my hair. It hurts to think now that someone else will take my place. Because once the clock strikes “time’s up” and I let go of your hands, there’s a lot of things that I will never get to do again. I won’t hear your voice anymore. I won’t be able to walk in a crowd with you by my side or eat dinner with you. No more texts that make my day with your name on it. No more waking up next to you. No more words like ‘I miss you’s and ‘I love you’s. And memories will be all that’s left of us.