Love Grows

When I first saw my love,
I thought,
“This man is ugly!
I could never be attracted to him!
His hair is too long, and scraggly.
He’s got that gold tooth.
Doesn’t own a pair of pants
Without a hole in it.
And, my God, somebody
Should tell him to shave
His face, and his back.”

And then, we got to talking,
Tender talk.
Talk about love, and poems,
And sunrises, and about how
Sad I felt when my cat died.
And those big, blue eyes
Were so sympathetic,
And I thought to myself,
“He’s not so bad!
A little plain, maybe,
But somehow attractive
In his own way.”

And then, the death
Of another dear friend.
He held my hand
At the funeral, and my tears
Found a home on his shoulders.
As I wept, I breathed deeply.
Sigh after sigh, I took in his scent,
And I was grateful for his presence.
And I thought to myself,
“How strong he is, how comforting
To lean on this towering man,
To have his strength to sustain me,
Now, when I need it most.
And, there is something about him….”

He kissed me.
Hesitant, that first kiss,
As though he was afraid
That I would push him away.
But, I took that kiss,
Slow, at first,
Then deeply drank it in,
Like a bottle of Dom Perignon,
To be savored with full passion.
Our souls were knit together
On some ethereal plane,
A spark ignited,
And the fire started within me.
Not fireworks,
But the fire that grows
From one leaf,
Into a raging inferno.
The coals remain hot.
And I thought,
“This is my soul mate.
Thank heaven we were able
To find each other!”