Love's First Words

I Love You For the First Time

By Josh Watkins

Here we sit on this grassy mountain edge,

Time is still and all is quiet.

We gaze across the wrinkled sea,

Watching as the sun wraps itself in the wavy blue,

Bidding us adieu.

The wind races across the grass

And my skin tingles as the blades sweep across my body.

I gaze upon her and catch her stare,

Fixed upon the Artist’s easel

A masterpiece in its own right.

The clouds are touched with a stroke of crimson reds, fiery pinks, and royal purples.

The once blue sky is splashed with layers of gold.

I can hear the cricket’s song, echoing through the night,

The owl’s eyes watch us as they glow in the darkening sky.

My heart begins to pound like a 1000 man marching band

And my thoughts begin to race.

This moment is all too surreal,

Perfect to the smallest detail,

Almost as if it was created just for me.

I gaze at her complexion and lose myself in her stunning beauty,

The world as I see it through her eyes,

Is a world I one day hope to experience.

She turns to me with a curious glance,

Knowing not my true intention.

I give her a nervous smile and fall back into the cool sea of grass,

Noticing the blanket of stars covering the sky.

A stray moon beam reflects off the ocean’s crest,

Lighting our small paradise.

I can feel my Maker’s presence ever so close

Gently coaxing me to utter those three little, but precious words.

She lays her head next to mine

And uses her eyes to try and decipher my thoughts.

The world around me becomes a blur,

My vision rests only upon her.

Gazing once more into those gentle eyes,

My lips speak for my excited heart.

The words “I love you,” dance off of them,

Spoken with careful thought.

My heart stops, my nerves tingle, I restrain my breath.

A tear escapes her eyes and from her lips come the words

“As do I.”

Remember how I said I have a daring side to me, as well as a romantic side? Well I put both of them on the line with this piece and this piece is barely two years old. Believe it or not, this was a project, but not for an english class or any other class for that matter. This, dear friends, was a project for the 2011-2012 Great Lakes Christian Internship. 

We had been covering Ezra, Nehemiah, and the minor prophets and our assignment was to write a poem with similar styles to their writings (there was more to it, but that I can't recall). Me, being a writer figured this was going to be easy. So I put it off for a bit and eventually the deadline snuck up on me. The only thing that came to me was romantic stuff and I didn't want to share that with 30 people. As the night lingered on, my writer's block got worse. So I panicked, decided to man up, write what had been lingering in my thoughts, and go with it. 

Once I let myself go, this piece came together real quick. I looked it over, felt satisfied, and went to bed. The next day, during the bible study, Rex asked for volunteers to read. Normally I would love to share my work, but in a room full of people I knew really well, half of them girls, Pete McNaughton the literary critique, and a handful of manly men, there was no chance I was reading it...or so I thought.

Slowly people began to volunteer. Some were funny, some were emotional, and some serious, but all good. Then Sarah Brickner stepped up to the plate and read her poem which was themed about her dream wedding. Granted, she was a She, but to reveal intimate details like that with 13+ guys listening, that took guts. Right then and there I told myself I wasn't going to be a pansy nor outdone by her. So I read it.

Once the last word left my lips, there was a brief silence, then a few "awes", and then some approval. I was all tensed up and shaking a little. I did it. Soon, the moment passed and the next volunteer took over. Later, Pete told me he like my poem a lot and said it would have been his favorite, except Jesse put his pain of being a Cubs fan and sports into his poem, but hey, second ain't to bad. 

I debated about putting this up here, but told myself, if 30+ close people had heard it, why not the world?