Real Time Poem by Mark Bratlie

Now that we have real time together
I'd like to get to know you

What you think and feel
about everything

About wars and kids going hungry
and the smell of fresh-cut grass
About worth and dignity in people
and how you got scared once
when you were small
About a long-ago dream that dried up
and the one that was born yesterday

I'd like to lie in the grass with you
to see what the clouds turn themselves into
and laugh so loud that they hear us

But I'd also like (just as much)
to wash the dishes with you
or scrub the floors clean
or weed the garden
or make the world's greatest vegetable soup

Or to sit with you in silence
while we tell each other things
that words forgot to say

And through the days and minutes
to get to know you better
than anyone ever has