you don’t need to change for me
but if you change

i thank the stars that set you free

you rearranged
the way they told you not to be

i thank the heart that set you free

your hair hangs like golden hoops
and how i wish i could leap through:
a spinning, twisting acrobat
falling
in a perfect loop

beginning something difficult
with everything to prove:
inarticulable intent,

embedded in a poem
so i guarantee that
one day you’ll understand exactly what i meant

i’m somersaulting:
you remain content
in how quietly you echo
what i said

you don’t need to change for me
but if you change

there’s nothing that will change for me

then we exchanged
a meaning only we could see

we rearranged
the way they told us not to be:
it’s not so strange