The first time that I saw your face, I remember very well
The very thoughts I had about you, you tripped and fell and taught me
How to pick myself up off the ground -- your inelegance coincides with perseverance
To make something new. You, you, you

I hoped you'd notice me. I tried and tried
And fried my circuits - every one! - to watch you run through life
Like you knew everyone was watching you exert your presence --
And your power like a cloud surrounding those you were around.

A month later I had found we shared a class together! -- seven-thirty in morning.
Oh, what a time to start your day with locker rooms and playing dodge-ball
Dodging deep into philosophy and politics that I knew not much about
You had so much in your head that you just needed to let out

I could go on and on and on and on and on about how much I admire you
And your tenacity and the way life moves through your eyes --
Yet it's no surprise to anyone that you're sometimes hard to be with
With your ego and how self-assured you are, it's no myth -

You've got the biggest head I've ever seen, in that tracksuit so resplendent
The way you proudly bear your country's colors so no one could forget how
You lay it all out on the table -- and at the end of the day --
When you've nothing left to give, you give a little more anyway

And sure, some might classify your heady passion as hard-headedness
And competitiveness, you don't settle for less than perfection.
Always striving, always rising, never give yourself a break
Until you break down and take down the walls that you have made

But that's okay, because who's perfect? -- we're all in this together,
Pressed together like your hands around your half of the burger that we shared
That night at the grill, unruly hair foolishly sticking out from everywhere
Upon your head, and then you said - you said - you said

Nothing if not more of the same. Philosophy and politics
That -- who'd've thought? -- I was growing to meet you in!
But we grew at different rates, your echo room was greater by far than mine
And it was hard to find a way to make you happy all the time.

But I wasn't much concerned with that, back then.
I'm still growing and learning how not to pretend that I care - 'cause I do! -
But that's so hard to show when the way that my everyday feelings bestow themselves winds up as smiles and laughter and nods.
I just need to get all of my thoughts out abroad to the world and communicate better and send out some hugs.
What I'm trying to say is I love you