I thought I found my forever,
just a few words walking the path
I have traveled by myself,
watching trees grow and weeds fill
as squirrels frolicked from branch to branch

Then more words and a feeling
created in my chest unexplained,
when a sunrise became you
in past minutes moving forward
from a tent in a park, still there

Sleep became an enemy of my happiness
when daylight moments were ours
Learning to wander in a new direction
following not streams with golden carp
but a heartbeat thumping in the smiles

You became a part of me, entwined
as a vine on a garden fence
Love bloomed, we bloomed together,*
autumn collected our thoughts
in the colorful leaf piles we played in

Winter brought its harsh frown,
still we warmed ourselves by the fires we tendered,
flames raging within our feelings,
touching from a distant dream,
reaching beyond delivered doubts

But it lingered, chilled wishes freezing,
snowdrift guilt lay waste on the side of the road
Slush filled our boots
and the season counted yet another victim
in its icy grip

I thought I found my forever,
now words have ended in shorter sentences
Silence cries on the arctic winds
and my forever has become
*a forever sadness, without a coming spring