when you tell me you love me

i have kissed too many lovers goodbye to believe in the promise of forever. i have touched too many people for the last time and bid too many farewells in the chill of an airport for me to believe that you will always be here. my mind has wandered too far into the depths of ’i wonder where they are now” and i have wondered for too long for me to believe that you will come back for me. when you tell me that you love me, don’t promise me forever. don’t send me empty words and convenient vows because i have heard them all. when you tell me that you love me, tell me that you love me now; that in this moment i am the only person you see. when you tell me you love me, don’t tell me that you will never make the same mistakes as the last one when he was supposed to be the last one. when you tell me you love me, don’t follow it with superficial compliments about the things that you can see but can not feel. do not call me pretty, or beautiful, or lovely. don’t tell me that i turn you on tell me instead that i burn like fire. when you tell me you love me, realize that you are not the first one with pretty words and beautiful lies. remember that just like you, i breathe and i feel and i think and i dream and i remember and i hurt and i love. when you tell me you love me, know that i am clinging on to every word and syllable; know that i will hold these words so close to my heart they will begin to tattoo themselves onto my skin.