Love Beyond All Senses

The Lady has walked this road with me for nearly 40 years of marriage. How without her?

How many days and nights I longed for someone to love me!

The hopelessness, the empty hours, the way I could not find,
before the light could change to let a tenderness to pass.

College man ready to graduate,
piano man in a dining room,
study man with big, big, BIG plans.

There she stands
long, flowing hair,
beautiful features,
her smile lights the room.

How many days and nights I longed for courage to ask her out!

The hesitation. "How would she respond? Where could I find strength?"
Would time soon pass without a single word to draw her in?

Piano man had made his move.
"Little Flowers" played for her.
"May I walk you to your dorm?"

I helped her clean her table.
I held the door. We walked outside.
It was one block. The walk's too fast,
but still I asked her out.

How long the moments seem between the question and response!

"I think I could go with you." "How are your studies?" "They're fine."
Beyond the door, she shouted to her hallmates, "HE ASKED ME OUT!"

Piano man kept making moves.
"Little Flowers" brought him hope.
They'd see each other for nearly two years, before the question was popped.

"Your love is better than wine!
I want to drink each night!
Please, marry me, before I sip!
Make honorable my thirst!"

How many days and nights I waited for the wedding to come!

The anxiety, the tension built, the desire for more of her
drove me to the brink of insanity. The cure of "Now I pronounce..."

Each fragrant thought, each fragrant sight,
each fragrant line to trace.
"Dear Lord, please wedlock fragrant everything before I lose myself!"

The wedding came that August night
with songs, words, candles, rings (or not).
The final word made us wedlocked,
but then the presents, food, and more.

How many miles and minutes waited for the wedding night!

We got checked in about midnight. In hindsight, I'd have made the wedding much earlier.
A youthful buck and fawn, dead-tired must consummate their vows.

"But if you think I'm going to give you the details,
then you've got another think coming
because I definitely do not roll, like that!"

This August makes 40 the years of wedlock
with a daughter of 23 this September.
That was 17 years before she came for us to practice.
A good time was had by both.

Form: free verse
Words: 42
Lines: 50
Stanzas: 20