What Us Means

The word Us is amongst the simplest there is. It requires a U and an S, it is a pronoun that, to exist, requires the word You and the word Me joined by the conjunction and. Its pronunciation is very simple too. If you say it in Spanish, you would need to pronounce an O followed by the sound of the S. It is the kind of word a three year old would know very well how to use. There really isn’t much to it.

Us is the word that’s been stuck in my mind for the last few days. It’s been circling through it in such different directions that I’ve figured out it has a lot more meanings than I thought.

Us is the intersection between Dawn and Night, the conception of twenty thousand miles all erased or suddenly realized. It is time encapsulated and forgotten. Months or years fit into days. Us is the word I so long have feared and now, in a twisted way, crave for. It is the early hours of my morning and of your beginning night. It is the movie running in front of my eyes which I can’t bring myself to stop. Us is a moment frozen in the train with me leaning over your shoulder or maybe our bodies intertwined under the covers in my bed. It is a plane ticket waiting somewhere to be bought. It is also a field touched by the sun waiting somewhere to be discovered. Us is the sound of our voices trying to make sense of this, my nervous laughter, your soothing words…

What came before Us was the idea of Me and of a He, a She, even an It. What comes after Us... well that’d be a little too much to reveal wouldn’t it?

Us would be described best as the melody I’m sure I haven’t heard yet, but which I can’t stop playing over and over in my head.

This, is You and Me.

This, is Us.