You should have known I liked you
when I told you my middle name.
You should have known I liked you
when I showed you those scars.
You should have known I liked you
when I bought you that drink
and that other drink
and the tenth.

You should have known I liked you
from all my mirroring attempts
which went a little bad when we bonked heads.
You should have known I liked you
when I offered you my car.
You should have known that I liked you
when I laughed at your jokes
which weren’t half as funny
as I thought they were.

You should have known I liked you
when I stood up at the table and
yelled
“I like you!”
and then declared
for all the others present
(including the bartender
his dog
and two rummies)
that I liked you.
They knew.
You should have known.

I did what I could to make it clear.
I said all the things I hoped you would hear.
I confronted my fears
I bought you twelve beers
but it seems this experiment will come to tears
if you don’t get the message
that I like you
unless
maybe you did get the message?
Have you been hinting some sort of response?

What are you trying to tell me?