Recycled Words and Love

I used to assume recycled words had no meaning.
I love you.
You’re everything to me.

The pin-up words worn from overuse
peeling off the walls in a nostalgic mind
Glorified in fantasy,
hot mirages leading you through a desert of disappointment.

Faded photos made mundane details disappear
And all I could hear was
echos...
echos ...
ECHOS!
Reverberating in my empty head like phantom arms embracing in an empty bed
And in the faded photos the smiles seemed more radiant
Forget the lame jokes which prompted the expression
Forget the thirty tries to get a flattering shot
Forget the way you gave it all you got
And only remember
That smile.
Remember the radiance that captivates from across the room.
Remember the silence still like an untouched tomb
Gentle embraces soft like a silky cocoon
And when you’re released you find yourself more beautiful
delicate
aware
And you fly without a care

The words of yesterday’s cliche feel like comfort food in your mouth
And swallowing your pride
you smile and repeat words you swore you would never say and
Find the only phrase that could encompass this feeling
these new sensations wrapped in nostalgia
this comfort with risk wrapped in certainty
the growth of your heart’s capacity
the way you’ve become a casualty of war
caged in the four chambers of her heart and finding freedom within
And you swallow your pride and speak
I love you.
And she already knew.
Because your eyes told her, the way traitorous eyes tend to.