linden franklin.

my mother always told me that there are
some people that when you meet them,
you'll know. you'll just know.

she never embellished on what i
should know but when i met him
i knew that he was the one
that i knew i should be aware of knowing.
if that makes sense.

that was over a year ago when
he was that transfer student that
answered all the questions in class
and i was the sophomore girl who
attended psci 249 only when i had
a paper due but when we finally met
i knew.

and he is the type of man who'll leave the
sports bar on a sunday
tear himself from his beloved carolina panthers
and listen to me cry
about some other nigga who broke my heart
again
and will sit quietly in my multicolored room
in the chair in the corner and listen patiently.

and during finals time we
depend on each other like ying and yang
like day and night like wrong and right
he's my alarm clock, calling me at
4:00 am
waking me from a semblance of sleep
telling me to get up and finish
our paper that's due at 11 am.

and when i tried to push him away
because i was uncomfortable with the fact that
a man genuinely cared about me
and didn't want anything in return he still
held on and i held on to his body
wrapping my arms around his broad shoulders
sobbing.

i pray for him every night
and i thank God for
transfer students