Whirlwind Romance

I found love
in all sorts of places.
I could coax it into appearing
even when a heart was with
another,
though those weights
will never drop.
I found it in the dog-eared pages
of the book series you lent me
that I never returned,
and in the abstract nature
of your speech.
When I was young,
I thought everyone found love
in the taste of hot chocolate
in the fall,
and it was only through you
that I learned
that bitter could be even better
than sweet.
But unfortunately,
that bitter taste in my mouth
from the numerous cups
of black coffee I consumed
in a last-ditch effort to connect us
is all I have left.