• "Hello miss. How are you today?"
    The truth overflows in a manic rush.
    His jaw drops.
    He does not understand.
    "Miss, what's your name? Do you need to talk?"
    Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
    I need to talk--No.
    I need someone to listen--Yes.
    And he does.
    We sit.
    We drink coffee and smoke imaginary cigarettes.
    We pretend to laugh at serious things.
    And he listens.
    I pour out my soul.
    And he listens.
    We cry and sob and he holds me as I start to slip away.
    And he listens.
    I enter a new world.
    Filled with only truth.
    Because I can tell him anything.
    And he listens.
    I laugh and cry and shake but I don't lie.
    I don't make up anything.
    I don't pretend to be what I'm not.
    And he listens.
    I understand finally that he cares.
    And I understand that he knows.
    He has been through the same.
    He loves me even after just meeting me.
    He wants to be with me forever.
    And I feel the same way.
    I tell him this.
    And he listens.
    He responds.
    "My love, I have waited for a lifetime to meet you."
    And I listen.
    For once in my life.
    I listen.
    I understand.
    I do not make things up.
    I do not turn attention to myself.
    I do not pretend to be what I'm not.
    And I listen.
    We love each other more than a thousand couples ever could.
    We understand each other more than a surgeon understands the body.
    And we listen more than a composer to his music.
    We understand.
    We listen.
    How I wish it were so.