falling in love

Rogail Genturalez, Philippines

I knew you would fix the lines that were receding out of permanence, to keep me closer to your warmth just to feel what home feels like, to have someone you love staying by your side because you'd tell me this is exactly what you needed— the resonance of love falling knee-deep on us. I'd keep these polaroid films, hiding them in-between the pages of my favorite poetry book or just tuck them on my bedsheets so I could feel the memories reliving past two am.

despite these sea stars diving in on their painted sky, you would still park your car atop the mountain to see the flickering city lights and feel the wind kissing your skin just like how you want us to touch, maybe it wasn't the things you bought for me that made me fall in love.

it was this.

the late-night walks or the three-hour road trips, that sunflower and roses you tried to plant, the coffee-scented love letters you gave me with the words you scribbled down saying the things you love about me and even those clichè ones because you knew i love reading handwritten letters but you said that you hate to write, yet you still did.

I fall in love because you let me feel that the fall is worth it. that the fall is more than the aching point, that it is as deep as love gets us.

after all, you would still say that this is love, right here, beside me.

Rogail Gentura writes this poem to capture how of falling in love fees like, that it may come in various forms, not only just through words or chocolates. It is how you want to love someone and how you want them to feel of loving her.