Disclaimer: For all of those reading this who do not identify as heterosexual, this poem is about you too. Just replace the pronouns with whatever is relevant to you, and hopefully, enjoy. 

when a girl meets a boy

there is a moment

when they are truly equal.

before biology sets in and reminds him to flex

reminds her to push out her chest

reminds them that they are made to fit together like puzzle pieces.

nobody cares if the edges are broken as long as they’re the same color.

when a boy meets a girl 

for a moment

she is just another face in the sea of faces

she does not register as anything more than a blip; a stranger in a crowd

a timeless dance he dances to keep his heart from getting broken.

wouldn’t it be nice, to forget?

wouldn’t it be awful, to remember?

when a girl meets a boy, there is a second

that their flaws are hidden beneath late-night crying fests and baggy clothes

that Beauty and Biology are forgotten behind the wisps of longing

that define their shapes.

a stranger cannot judge you in any way that matters

because she does not know the words that can wrench your heart out

she does not know the things that you keep locked inside you

she does not know your greatest fear

all she sees is a boy with short dark hair

and all you see is a girl with a crooked smile

and Love has no part in any of it

because both of you are truly unlovable.

But what does it matter? Because for that brief, glorious moment

Nothing matters. Not Hate not Love not Misery

all are relegated to the background, tossed away like broken glass

jagged edges can only cut you if you’re stupid enough to touch them.

that moment is fleeting and it disappears faster than water on a scorching day

but it is there.

you know it must be there because

if it isn’t there

then what is there to really hope for?

you think you know what Love is.

it is the prolonging of that quiet moment that you and the girl wear

Like secrets around your heart. You wrap a padlock around it

cover it in blankets of Shame and Regrets

stuff it into a dark corner of Someday

but you cannot snuff it out.

because when a boy meets a girl

there is a moment

when Her Story and Your Story becomes one

when God and History conceal themselves behind secret panels

when the lonely face of Happiness peeks out.

when a boy meets a girl, there is a moment.

and it is beautiful.