You had big brown cow eyes. The size of saucers when they stared up at the moon. You were kicking the loose asphalt halfheartedly while you explained the Andromeda galaxy. The wet grass tickled the back of my legs; I wondered if this was friendship. Slow walks in the night while the cicadas drone on. Narrowly avoiding questions that don’t have straight answers. Fireflies made their way between your palms. It made me jealous. Big dumb cow eyes surrounded by long, comet-tail lashes Big cow eyes that held stars when you were excited Talking at the speed of light about things I never understood. I loved that they made your big eyes glow. Running behind you through blackberry bushes, picking until our shirts were stained purple and our arms were scraped and raised. A more straightforward explanation of purple splotches and scrapes long since reopened. We have to do this every single night; you’ll come with me, right? I thought about the rusted cellar door and the coffee pot timer that waited for me. But your big blackberry cow eyes were so kind; how could I refuse? You started taking flowers from Mrs. Wolner's garden, daffodils and hydrangeas, and Black-eyed Susans wrapped up with the Sunday comics. We would walk for hours in the July heat until not a single one remained. Given to anyone, ice cream clerks, waitresses, and people in traffic. Dilbert crinkled between wildflowers and dandelions because They deserve a spot too. Everyone deserves to feel special. Swirling purples and reds and yellows looked so pretty Until I saw them reflected on your big brown right eye, now they looked oily dull, and wrong. Summer rain was my favorite. Until you showed up at my door in the worst storm of the year with your bouquet big brown eye, shaking like the world was about to cave in. I don’t remember how long we stayed wrapped together, shivering from the cold while thunder rolled from our chests. Everything was explained in the whipping winds and pounding rain, and summer ended. It cleared as all storms do, leaving only the drips from the leaves and the sniffles from our noses. You looked up at me with your big beautiful cow eyes, and all I wanted to do was pull the stars from the sky and place them in the corners.