In Retrospect...

Lara.

She's all heart. No, no--I don't mean soft.

I mean she doesn't see you:

she feels you. She isn't impressed:

she is moved. She cries a good deal because

a lot of things get to her.

I keep telling her to be strong, but

in a perverse way I admire her for hurting.

Rael.

He is my anchor.

He doesn't lack imagination himself,

but whereas I ride with it,

he pins his in a corkboard.

He is quick to laugh,

clever with rejoinders,

sensitive to hear the words you left unsaid

and doesn't pretend he knows the answer.

Lara.

Some girls talk a lot. Some have got a lot of things to say.

I didn't know there's a difference until I listened to her.

For someone who hasn't been around the world,

she knows a great deal.

Before I met her, I got a lot of things on my mind already,

mostly about work.

But I couldn't stop her thoughts from flowing in.

I don't want to.

And it surprised me to know

there's still room enough for her there.

Rael.

It makes me sad sometimes how I can

 read a person like a book. I see your wounds and

what you fear for, then and now.

But like a hero in the novel you refused to go down.

Your sheer will effects to chasten me.

I'll always admire how you go off each time to

a more stressful workday than the last and survive it

while I'm tempted to crawl back to bed at the hint of a bad day.

Lara.

I'm not the best out there for you, but I don't want to let you go.

I do not know what you see in me because I myself don't really know me.

I want to give you more time, more hope.

When I see the best of me reflected in your eyes,

even I could hope.

Rael.

I wish I could tell you all the little things that make me love you.

But love is tricky. 

One might need to

keep some thoughts close to heart to save one's self.

But I'll tell of two:

I love you for your good heart.

For forgiving a woman who scratched your new car after you learned

she's hurrying to see her brother in the hospital.

And I love this kid in you who doesn't mind 

drinking milk in a tetra pac in front of me.

I could tell you more.

But maybe I shouldn't.