Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along

“Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere. They’re in each other all along.”
~Rumi

I was forty when I met her.
I had just met myself three years prior.
Before that, I was a lie that loved a lie.
I didn’t love what was in front of me.
I loved what I thought they could become.
They loved me equally.
When I met her,
I saw with crystal clarity,
She needed nothing,
Which is exactly what I was.
We chose each other.
Her name, Fatima,
My name, Tim,
Fa-Tim-A
Art imitating life,
We have always been together.
Life imitating art.