My pipe.....
It smokes often enough.
A simple yet mysterious thing.
People notice, yet don't seem to mind.
My pipe.... Elegant? Common?
The fragrance brings old memories.
My pipe....
It fills me with pleasures.
It fills me with thoughts.
Thought provoking a pipe is.
Grandpa's originally.
Lightly used in his days.
It is the thinking man's tool.
His weapon? Of sorts.
Mine to enjoy. Mine to ponder.
My pipe.....

Here I am continually.
Looking but never finding.
The eyes seek without ceasing!
Eager to capture even a glimpse!
The heart opens expecting infinite joy!
No, for whom I seek is not approaching.
Another, unknown passes by.
Am I to ache forever?
How long do I have?
Time never tells us, does he?
Is the end near? Yes always.
Always closer every evening.
Loved once, memories fading.
Unable to go back.
Lost again to time. Lost.
Morning calls to me to persevere.
The day filled, afternoon flies by.
No thoughts of whom I seek.
Evening. Evening. Once my friend.
Have you become...a sad old man?
Wanting your company, but wishing for another's.
You draw my attention to the one whom I seek.
Her picture forms in my imagination.
Here I am continually.

Where have I been?
Air cools, steam rises,
Endless circles returning.
Where am I?
As the rain drops,
Dangerous puddles forming.
Where do I go?
Forward of course, out,
Yet unanswered.
Where will I end?
Sheets of gray unknown,
Moving ghostly along.

Oh to be loved like that.
To have a woman love me
with that intensity.
For her to surrender her heart to me.
To have her fragile heart in my hands,
to protect it and cherish it.
Oh to be loved like that.

To watch her peer into my soul,
to touch my heart and life like that.
To have her see the good in me,
To have her see my many flaws,
Yet she chooses my life to share.
Oh to be loved like that.

My arms around her,
a woman resting silently, peacefully.
Her knowing I'm here,
watching over her.
Her every breathe,
the smell of her hair,
the shape of her lips, nose, shoulders.....where does it end?
Oh to be loved like that.

Can I peer into her soul?
To love her with that same intensity?
To see her good?
To see her flaws?
To surrender my heart like that?
Oh to love a woman like that?

END.