#513 i love you?

says from the other side of the phone call

but i hear the question mark

so, for two reasons

i do not mirror a response

#1

those three words are too important to just use to reassure each other

they are deeper and more special than that

i would not use our bedsheets to wipe up a spill in the kitchen

i will not speak those three words for what i think might be petty self-doubt

#2

i never want the words to be reflexive

like the knee-jerk in a doctor's office

for though i love you with every bit of my body

i want those words to pass certain parts of me every time

the brain, through new synaptic connections

the heart, to feel it every time the words are said

the soul, to appreciate what the words mean

failing to supply the mirror response, does not equal failure

but

if you do not know that i love you

with every cell in my body

from the eternal, vital cells in my heart and organs

to the dead, replaceable cells that cover the dirt under the tips of my fingernails

then

then i have failed