everything, and then you

i love the ordinary things.“coffee before anyone speaks to me.“the exact weight of a cat deciding to stay.“the first cold second of clean sheets.“

i love them the way you love a language“you were born into —“easily, without noticing,“the whole of it just there.“

but you“i love the way you love a language“you chose,“the hard way, as an adult,“every word a small deliberate miracle,“nothing automatic,“all of it on purpose,“

so that even now,“even tired, even used to you,“i still, some mornings, have to stop“and conjugate the fact of you“slowly,“like something i am afraid“of getting wrong.“