Once upon a time,

I learned I’m incomplete.

That my knight in shining armor

would amend this when we meet.

I avoided heroic stories,

evaded portals between pages,

embraced my broken state,

looking in all the wrong places.

Refused to swoon over reading,

as my friends so often do.

The temptation became grating,

confirming my halved worth true.

But the summons grew too strong.

Shaky hands splayed the book.

Immediately consumed.

Irrevocably doomed.

One greeting was all it took.

I felt the swell of seas he’d cross to find me,

heart cresting and crashing with every line.

Despite his fighting with equal fervor,

until his armor no longer shined.

Both battle tested in denial,

we reluctantly succumbed to our course.

Shedding reticence and our shields,

both broken and battered by the force.

Posture deflating,

he asked what my name is,

I smiled and answered, “Yours.”