Another year
Same bottle, same table, same empty chair
Mmm
October 17th,
it's like a quiet alarm I clear my throat,
put on the shirt you like
The one with the tiny hole near the hem
You always said it made me look lived in
Corner stores,
those locks are not restful The one we
finished in two hours on your kitchen floor
Labels fading out,
price went up a dollar Everything changes except this
I pour two glasses out of habit,
slide one across the table like you're late
Watch the candle drip onto the wood the same way it did
When we laughed till we cried,
happy meet you day
Happy almost forever day
Here's to the night we began with cheap wine and cheaper plans
I still toast to the girl who sat cross-legged on tile
Spilling merlot on her dress and calling it odd
Here's to the boy who swore he'd never forget
Here's to keeping promise nobody asked for,
anniversary for one
With the same bottle and the same broken heart
I play a song on low volume just loud enough to pretend
You're humming in the kitchen making fun of my dancing
The cork smells like that first sip,
like thunderstorms and second chances
Sometimes I talk out loud,
tell you about the job,
the cat,
the way the city looks smaller
You don't answer but the silence feels polite,
like it's letting me have this one night
I stopped counting the years we could've had
Started counting the ones I've survived without you
Tonight makes seven or seventy,
times weird when love freezes
Here's to the night we began,
I still taste you in every swallow
Still see you in the bottom of the glass
Here's to the girl who said this could be
something And the fool who believed her,
anniversary for one
Same wine, same pain, same ritual
Happy meeting you, day love, I hope yours
is kinder than mine
I'm a sip less,
I save it every year
For the version of us that never learned how to leave