The Next Thing Said After 'i Love You' Poem by Raj Dronamraju

I like to tell her "I love you"
But what is said next?
After I love you followed by a comma and an endearment (honey or darling)
A voice trails off into the hope of a silencing embrace

Words come in numbers and the numbers decrease in years
The acquisition of language backwards
The marriage of Gutenberg re-entering the cave
Draw me a picture, committed practitioner of love

I love you is a call in the night not cafe table conversation to be dropped among clinking cups and glasses, low hum of discourse, scurrying waitress action
Soft sounds in the night, obliteration smoothed over

For the package is unwrapped in a moment speeded away from
It is held and fondled as a calming habit
Marriage begins there, follow-up answer depends on the individual

Press a sense of humor into public service
You and me
Did you change after I love you or did I love you change you?
You and me