Sweet and Untouched

Frozen in time is the moment.
By candlelight.
In your room.
Complete silence as you write to me
And fold the notes into paper flowers.
A look of serious concentration on your face
As you turn occasionally to meet my eyes
I stare.
Waiting.

The ache of the moment turns into fluttering
In my chest, like wings seeking flight,
And I grapple for the moment, holding it down,
Not wanting it to end.

Shadows jumping on walls between flickering candle flames.
A snoring dog stretched across my legs.
Cool air from the vent running across my skin.

You raise your eyes and smile:
A moment sealed in time.
Never to return; never to forget.
I press my hand to my chest,
Holding the moment against me.

Hold it. Hold it here. Forever.
One tiny piece of a moment, nothing in life at all,
Yet it achieves eternity for me all at once
And in a moment it's mine. Forever.

You look down for one more second
And the moment swells to include one more,
Just one more glimpse of your face:
Sweet and serious.
For me.

Can I say that I love you when I don't know you,
And when I don't believe in forever?
Or do I, because you already have a piece of forever;
This moment is forever.
So, then, I do love you in a way, because you, in that moment
Belong to me. Forever.
I want you forever, at least in this moment, and I believe
Because of the wanting, it will happen:

You will last, forever and intact, in my memory,
Sweet and untouched.