Twenty

You don’t rhyme with spleen anymore.

But it’s ok; spleen’s an ugly word anyway.

Just so long as you still rhyme with Naked Juice

and Shakespeare and converse

Spiderman and Next to Normal and weak ankles.

And neither of us has rhymed with innocence for awhile

But I always will in my core.

And it will be no surprise that

I’ve recently rhymed with aching,

but I’ve also recently rhymed with Harry Potter,

How to Train Your Dragon,

and forgiveness.

But not everything has changed; some things never will.

I still rhyme with crunchy leaves

and crayons and ice cream with rainbow sprinkles

even though they taste like faintly sugared powder.

And you and I?

Well, we still rhyme with Lord of the Rings, and

races at midnight and toeing the verbal line.

We still rhyme with “play” and music and give and take.

We still rhyme with destiny and blessings

and the words 

best friends.