Commitment

I love you.
The words freeze his heart.
Fear dries his mouth.
Terror races his pulse.
Visions of meeting her parents for dinner,
Of them picnicking on lazy summer afternoons,
Of them laying naked together
exposing all his faults and shortcomings,
Of him not hanging out with the guys,
sleeping until noon
and shaving on the weekends
Paralyze his throat.
His massive chest heaves,
swelling with dread as he sucks in his gut,
making him appear macho
at the verbal end of his freedom.
His eyes widen with that
"dear caught in the headlights" look.
He swallows hard and whispers
I love you, too.