tell me if this is all true

Before we actually met,  
letters helped us shed the skins  
of rattlesnakes and wingless birds.  
Groping through old diaries —  
divorces lined on countertops  
like cups to wash —  
I wasn’t sure we had the hands.  
               
After a rose and that kiss —  
the kind that makes all loveless hours  
grow meat and juicy dreams  — we settled  
on a plain gray park to say “hello.”  
Snow still sat on the hills  
like egg whites stuck to skillet lids.  
I wasn’t sure I was ready to thaw.  
               
I watched your eyes to see  
what made them rumba, waltz.  
We walked beside a tiny pond.  
Water was muddy, lilies asleep,  
a few stray ducks bobbing for food.  
It was a test to see if our shadows  
could change into light.