boys who love their grandmothers

never fall in love with a boy who loves his grandmother.
he will be too gentle with your lips,
too sincere when he whispers blessings into your ears
pleading that he doesn't deserve you.

his tongue will not slither between your teeth.
instead, the heat of his mouth will melt your scar tissue
until there is no trace of your travels.

never fall in love with a boy who loves his grandmother.
he knows patience.
you will try to convince him
that it is one of the many virtues
you don't yet possess,
but he will dig through the flesh in your ribcage
until he finds it lodged beneath everything
you're too scared to confess.

he will teach you forgiveness, remind you that you are not a mistake.
he will wipe the trails of tears that always seem to decorate your cheeks
and replace them with rose petals, saying that he chose the color red
to match the passion he knows flows through your veins.

never fall in love with a boy who loves his grandmother.
he will trace the freckles on your skin
into constellations
and tell you that
you are greater than the most divine heavens.

he will not break you into pieces of everything you thought to be true.
he will hold you when you are being unreasonable.
he will hold you when your mother dies.
he will hold you from sunset to sunset, for the depth of an ocean.
he will hold you as you watch embers form at the base of a campfire.
he will hold you until your heartache disintegrates.
he will hold you just because he feels like it.

never fall in love with a boy who loves his grandmother.
he might find dead butterflies in your insides
and spend his time nursing them back to life
because he will think your goodness is worth it.

he will carve stars into the creases of your elbows
with his fingernails and say:

if you want to make a wish, whisper it right here
and i will come running back to you,
even though i never even left in the first place.

never fall in love with a boy who loves his grandmother
because once you do, you can't go back.