as an introvert
I’ve never been
fond of making eye contact

looking into your eyes
felt like I’m standing at
the very edge of a deep canyon

I’m afraid that I might get
too close
and fall straight in

and never stop falling

I’m also terrified of you seeing into
my unpolished heart

and come to know that I’m a fraud

but

in this age of masks,

where our mouths
are eclipsed by
thin fabric and
fat anxieties

we all must
train
ourselves
to gaze into
each other’s
eyes

without fear

because our pupils
have become our
lips

that we use to smile
at one another with

I’m practicing my
eye contact

so the next time
we see each other
from a distance

and look at each other
in the eyes for just a moment

we can be transported
to a bench in the
invisible garden park that
exists in that moment
between us

and share our lives with each other again

for the first time
in my life

I’m making eye contact
because

our shared glance has become
the tongue that I now
use to say what I should have
said out loud a month ago:

“I love you.”