Tell her;

(One) Tell her when you are drunk.

Spit it on her voicemail.

A little slurred and sounding like the whiskey

you downed to get the courage;

(Two) Sigh it in ;

wedged between teeth and tongue

Don't even let your lips move when

you say it, ever so lightly, into the air.

(Three) Buy her flowers;

Buy her chocolates;

Buy her a bear;

because that's how they

tell you how to say it.

Take her to a restaurant,

be as nervous as the guy

on the next table proposing,

eventhough you are just

confessing to something

you have always known.

(Four) Whisper it to her hair;

after you have counted her breaths,

and are sure she is already asleep.

Then, close your eyes quickly,

when she shifts in askance.

Make her wonder if you

were just talking in your sleep.

(Five) Blurt it out when you two are dancing,

in an odd party you both go to;

then tack on, "in that shirt" or,

"when you make that aoli dip you are famous for" or,

if you are feeling particularly brave, "when we are like this";

and pretend afterwards you feel nothing, as her eyes follow you all night.

(Six) Write it in a letter;

with all your words tripping on each other;

make it confussing like how her presence knots your inside.

Then debate if you should,

leave it on her dresser?

Under her pillow?

On her purse?

On her coat pocket?

Get frustrated enough to crumple it

and throw it in the rubbish bin,

with her name facing up,

scrawled on with your messy, nervous handwritting.

Make her wonder if you meant it,

if she decides to pick it up.

(Seven) Wait for something bad to happen;

as you pull her out of a crazy biker's way,

and with her still in your arms, and your mouth

still filthy with curses. Tell her, tell her in that breath,

with your sweaty, shaking hand on her bare arms.

Tell her because you are afraid that you'd lose her without knowing.

(Eight) Tell her deliberately,

And act like it's not a big deal if she doesn't feel the same way.

With your eyes straight through the windows of her soul.

Don't act like it was a burden;

Tell her loving her always set you free,

Just stare at her, and wait...

stay still, and hope the next breath she exhales,

might be her telling you something back.