I said I love you right after
I didn’t
but it occurred to me that it was something a person should be able to say
Preferably before giving his or her innocence away
No time like the present
Present passes before the moment makes laps from tongue to ear
I thought he didn’t hear me
I said it again
Smirking like I just double triple chocolate dared him with my cherry on top to be someone he couldn’t

He failed me

I said I love you right when I felt it nearing the end
I didn’t
but it occurred to me it’s something a person should be able to say
Preferably before giving his or her innocence away
He breathed the words like an overhead passenger train
Passing his exclamation through me
If he had said I hate you
It would’ve sounded pretty much the same

He failed me

I said I love you before we started
I didn’t
but it occurred to me a person should be able to say it
Preferably before giving his or her innocence away
He blinked like I just blew smoke in his face
His nose made an attempt to draw up the corners of his lips
Since he couldn’t he settled for kissing foreplay

He failed me

I said I love you when he was on his way
I didn’t
but it occurred to me a person should be able to fake it
If he or she was determined to give the innocence away
The act should be performed with greater pomp and circumstance than the manic unzipping, clumsy tripping over alien appendages from zero to sixty in under six point nine second mission
Reflexively he said it
Like he was hanging up the phone on his mother

He failed me

I said I love you when there was nothing else to say
I didn’t
but it occurred to me that it was something a person should be able to say
Preferably before giving his or her innocence away
He didn’t want my attempts at affectionate possessive manipulation
His illusions about himself wanted my permission to walk away
Which I gave

He failed me

I said I love you when I knew there was no other word to say
I did
and it occurred to me that this was what a person just had to be able to say
Preferably before giving his or her innocence away
Before taking the innocence of another who felt the same guilt at not finding a less misused vocalization of it
A less dirtied and sullied utterance to capture the rapture emitted from it
He meant it too
I knew it because love isn’t something you say
It’s something you do

He felled me