An autumn leaf, once so green and so full
Fallen, dried, trampled in broken pieces.
A blade of grass, green, slender and alone,
Uprooted, lifelessly floating away.
A flower, once bright and full of nectar,
Wilting, pale, petals heavy on the stem.
A ravaged elm, as tall as it once was,
But hollow, gray, refuge for emptiness.
A shell, home to life, spit out by the sea,
Cracking underfoot, dead, a mere object.
Me, strong in spirit, alive and grateful,
More dead than those things, if not for your love.

The whirring ceiling fan first sound I heard,
Low hum of traffic outside my window,
Pictures on my wall still bleary and blurred,
Cheek warm and damp from head on my pillow.

This is the moment when life awakens,
Senses still calibrated to my dreams,
Haven’t yet moved but feeling I’m shaken,
Wrapped in the embrace of the world’s extremes.

Beauty! You can’t be escaped or denied!
Beauty! Once seen you will never depart!
Beauty! You came and I locked you inside!
Beauty! You are what I see with my heart!

Beauty! Here from sunsets to sunrises!
Beauty! You! Who my love realizes!

To love is to wonder, “What is wonder?”
To find myself lost in, her eyes of green,
To quake from my heartbeat, strong as thunder,
Dreaming that she loved me, what would it mean?

To love is to wonder, “What is wonder?”
To never unsee, her angelic face,
Utterly helpless, her spell I’m under,
Could I feel her love, held in her embrace?

To love is to wonder, “What is wonder?”
To not have her image, out of my sight,
But not let this dream, tear me asunder,
Dream she’s in love with me, all day and night.

To love is to wonder, “What is wonder?”
To vanish in love, the moment she looked,
A love forever, that never shunned her,
Wonder, O wonder, on her love I’m hooked.

Forgive me, my heart beats too fast.
I suffer from lightheadedness.
In frigid sweats I shrink aghast.
I panic from my breathlessness.

My weakened legs won’t let me stand.
My skin sizzles like it’s been shocked.
Can’t calm the tremor in my hand.
I’m speechless as if jaw’s been locked.

My eyes are crossed in confusion.
I’m frozen like an icy blue.
I’m afraid it’s no illusion.
My body’s broken around you.

You come to me like a wave soon to crest.
I wait with open arms upon the shore.
The distant ocean smooth like glass at rest,
Belies the energy it has in store.

The distant plane of water so serene,
That ripples faintly as it nears the beach.
Our love is fury like a wave unseen,
Its strength in evidence when within reach.

From far away you now are in my sight.
Inside me my emotions hit their peak,
Like the ferocious waves of frothy white.
Our love was never calm, was never weak.

The waves derive their power from below,
Beneath the calm your love is all I know.

My love for you is defined by smallness.
The time before I miss you when you leave.
The space between our lips.
The connection of our hearts,
        No matter where we are.

How long before I reach out to touch you.
The space between our skin.
What we see in our future,
        Aligned to destiny.

From how we feel now to eternal bliss.
The difference in our thoughts.
Shock of coming happiness,
        Shrinks to ever present.

My love for you is infinitely close.
Together in every dimension.
Time, space and spirit.
Two souls once divided,
        Together in one heart.

I wish I’d known you longer,
Met earlier, been stronger.
I wish I’d not spent those years,
Without you, with all those fears.

I wish that our paths had crossed,
Met earlier, I’d been lost.
I wish I’d have had the chance,
Without you, knew not romance.

I wish I had known your name
Met earlier, it’s a shame.
I wish I’d known who you were
Without you, past life’s a blur.

I wish that though we never
Met earlier, forever
I wish endless love and so
Without you, I never know.

The meadow, fragrant of hyacinth and lilac
I lay among their stems, dewy grass in my back.
The pale blue of the sky holds the corona true
Swelter beneath the star, yellow at war with blue.

Distant petals, floating on gusty zephyrs fly
Squinting at reds and pinks, pollen dust in my eye.
A rushing bubbling stream carries away my mind
O’er pebbled bed beneath through twist and turn and wind.

A droplet escapes free and nibbles at my toe
As nature overwhelms with what the meadow knows.
Love is to be immersed—Just dipped my toe and yet
It was a pool of you, and my whole body’s wet.

The whole wide world would end
If the sun ceased to shine.
But my world would go on
For as long as you’re mine.

The Earth would be destroyed
If the planets collide.
But I’ll live forever
If you’re still by my side.

If every cloud opened
And all the living drowned,
I know that I’d survive
If I have you around.

Though I have no power
To survive mortal strife
It’s just a simple fact
That our love survives life.