To the woman I’ve not met yet —
First of all: hello!
Although I cannot see your face,
You’re just a shadow,
A barely visible silhouette,
An unlockable video game character.
I cannot see your smile,
The colour of your eyes,
Or how your hair radiates
Under the summer sun.
I have no idea
How soft, or rough,
Your skin feels like.
I have no clue
How your neck smells like,
Nor how your lips taste,
Nor how your name sounds —
Like some mysterious primal music?
I do not know.
Nor do I know yet
How my heart will throb
When I’ll hear your voice
Whisper,
Or scream out
My name.
I have no idea at all.
Not yet, at least…
It’s unfortunate
That we view time
As a linear path,
A river flowing
Towards a singular direction.
But I’d like to believe,
Maybe out of mere fantasy,
Or out of childish delusion,
That we are bathing
In an ocean of time;
And that we have already met,
Shared awkward smiles,
Accidentally touched
Each others’ hands
And felt electrified.
We have already taken the courage
To confess, in words,
The complex chemical processes
That we only seem to trigger
For each other.
We’ve already fought
Our first big fight.
Been separated,
And reunited again.
We’ve already taken
The trip we had always planned
To take together.
We’ve already taken those vows,
Which are easier said than done.
We’ve already stayed awake,
Lazily in bed,
Smiling at each other,
With a spark of life in between.
We’ve already loved each other,
Missed each other,
Mourned each other
When the inevitable moment came…
To the woman I haven’t met yet —
I’m on my way.
It is only a matter of space,
And time.

Image credit: Feature image generated with DALL·E using a prompt based on this poem and its themes.
If this piece resonates with you and you’re a visual artist, I’d love to feature your own soul-crafted work in place of the AI image.