You’re Going To Live Forever In Me

1,461 nights ago, your heart stopped in your chest and starting beating alongside mine.

Your soul left your body and ours joined seamlessly

though I am not entirely sure our souls were ever separate to begin with.

We are made of the same stars

the same flowing ink on pages of never written novels

the same watercolors, blues and purples blending.

I have you in everything I do

from the words I write

to the bedraggled bookshelf of alternate lives,  imagined

to the way I can never stop giving

to the smile you gave me.

I will take the world in my stride and I will accept only the love I would show my own daughter.

I will travel the world with your eyes in a locket.

I will continue to write, to take my tangled thoughts and lay them out onto paper.

I will learn to love myself the way you did, from even the very moment our eyes first met.

I will change the world for you, Mama.

Even if that world is just a single person, I swear I will.

Just like we promised.

You will meet my daughter when I am reading her stories because she can’t sleep

and you will comfort your friends when they reach out to me through playlists and old Facebook memories.

You will watch Elise grow older through my eyes

and you will hold her closely in my arms when she finds herself forgetting yours.

Your heart will never stop truly beating as long as it has mine

and I will always keep your heart here.

Always.