I must admit, you’ve charmed me.

You’ve charmed me like a new baby woos its mother.

One look into your eyes,

One earful of your laugh,

And I was swooned.

Swooned by eyes that held depth,

By laughter that rang deep into my ears.

It could’ve been the nights,

The dark nights we spent together.

All I could see were your eyes,

As white as the shirt that hung loosely on my shoulders

And then your teeth,

As perfect as the stars — gleaming in all its glory.

It must have been the late nights,

The times we spent talking about nothing and everything.

We’d talk two, three hours into the night

But whenever you left me, it felt like only a minute.

You made me laugh.

The kind of laughter they say is unladylike.

It had my eyes squinted till they filled up with tears

And my lips?

Oh, my lips — the very ones, you’d sworn to kiss.

They’d stretch into a smile

A smile beyond my control, causing my cheeks to get puffy.

Cheeks — you called me that during one of our many conversations.

You smiled as you said it and looked at me with eyes so piercing I couldn’t hold your gaze.

So I rolled my eyes and muttered my dislike for the name

Gently, you laughed and said you’d keep trying

I chuckled in return, but honestly, I did like the name.

I yearn for the dark when the sun comes up

I yearn for longer nights so I can speak to you

I yearn to hear you laugh and say the most random things

I yearn to kiss your lips, as you’d sworn mine

But I can’t.

Another has taken you from me

Now, the nights are darker

And I can’t see your eyes anymore

The nights are longer, but there’s no one speaking through it

And just like a mother hurts when her boy is sent off to war

My heart aches through these lonely nights.

How you did it eludes me…

But I must admit it…

You really have charmed me.