Sometimes I go back to our chat and reread your texts

To remind myself of how loved I am

By someone I admire beyond words.

It’s a modern take

On keeping letters in the desk drawer

So you can read the words when your heart aches

Yearning for that other person’s smile to lighten your burden.

It reminds me of the drawer in my old bedroom

Where I kept all the cards sent by my grandparents

And all the notes my friends passed in school

And all the letters my cousin mailed me from Tennessee

After she moved away.

A digital desk drawer, that chat with you.

The texts you send are like those paper memories

Blasting light through my soul

As the screen of my phone shines out

Into the dimness of the bedroom at night

While I scroll back through those conversations

Admiring you and letting your words sink in

So that I remember just how loved I am.