Thank you for showing me 
This new and dappled world. 
Hidden like some underwater kingdom, 
Bright and vivid, splashes of color everywhere you look, 
But only if you know to look, like some buried treasure, 
Or a door whose password was lost, long ago. 

I remember that one time I startled you, 
Darting away like a shoal of fish 
At the the word
Love. 

Settling on alterous, 
That brackish place between 
Romance and friendship, a different 
Kind of intimacy, from a different kind of person. 
Aromantic. 

Still vividly caring, 
Like fingers of bright orange coral,
Reaching out through the waves to take my hand. 
Still satisfying to my amorous soul, meaningful, deep and real,
Just not romantic. 

People ask how we can ‘date’ 
-Or do whatever it is we are doing-
And the answer is simple, because as
 I bask, and swim, and play in this ocean with you 
I am
Happy.