I tried to find you in books and under cups of coffee;
I tried to find you outside my window and walls bare and empty.
I tried to find you in the depths of stories about defiant lovers and loveless monks;
I tried to find you in the cacophony of honks.
I tried to look for you as Spring rolled by;
And returned empty-handed at the end of July.
I tried searching for you on the loneliest shores lapped up by the sea;
And under the bower of placid trees.
To put it mildly,
I looked for you in every nook and cranny.
But while I was on a manhunt for you;
You swept past me like the loo.