The Menagerie of What Ifs

A poem of what ifs

What if love is a door I'm scared to open
the kind that sighs when you touch the handle
as if it already knows your name
maybe behind it everything is too bright
too real for someone who only dreams of almosts

What if you're there
quiet in the light
eyes full of something I can't look at for long
you smile like you've been waiting forever
and I don't know if that makes me want to run
or stay

What if I hand you my paper heart
creased from being folded too often
ink running from all the times I rewrote your name
would you hold it gently
or would it fall apart between your fingers

What if I never open the door at all
and the Menagerie of What Ifs keeps growing
filling with soft ghosts of what could have been
each one whispering that I was too afraid to try

But what if I do
what if I breathe in
turn the handle
and find the world waiting
messy and beautiful and terrifying
and you
still smiling
like the risk was worth it all along