still small

Do you ever wish

I was still small?

Tinier than a sidewalk block–

Do you think of me

as I was then?

You stare at me, tenderly

On the front porch

Of the house you just bought

To fit the kid you just made

Do you love her?

Do you know her?

You wear two rings,

One on each hand,

Your wedding band

And a strip of braided silver

From a ren faire back in college.

I wear the closest thing I could find.

I’ve asked so many times

The story of the second ring,

Do you worry I’ve forgotten?

I just like to hear you speak, sometimes.

But you’ll repeat it anyway,

Like always,

One line or thought,

“Like I said–”

And I’ll always nod and agree like it’s the first.

I do the same thing, now.

Repeat

Repeat

Repeat

Older, instead of giggling

Over chalk

We sit, gossip

And talk over the kitchen counter

Drinking warm wine right from the box

“We’re so adult”

You’ve told me,

Dragging out the o

With a warm teenage tone

Do you miss when you were younger, too?

Do you recognize me less

And less

Each time I come home,

Hands full of suitcases and clothes

You've never seen?

Sometimes you still ask where it came from

As if the sweater I’m wearing

Maybe, just maybe

Is something you picked out.

Do you still look at me now,

Like that,

Knowing me?

Loving me?

Do you wish I was still small?