A Poem for My Husband

This Thursday is my husband's and my 15th wedding anniversary. Many years ago before we were even married, I had a journal that I used to write in all the time. It was part diary, and had a lot of poems in it too. Occasionally, I would read the poems out loud to my husband (then boyfriend). So, he figured that because I shared some of the content in my journal, that he was free to peruse the rest of it. Not only did he read the private parts of my journal without permission, but then he got mad about some of the things I had written in it about relationships I'd had before I even met him. So, as a result of that huge fight, I stopped writing poetry.

Now, 15+ years later, I decided start writing poetry again. This poem, to my husband, is about how love changes over time.

When we first met
I dove into you
Head over heels
Shocked and delighted
Immersed in your eyes

That was long ago

I tasted a bite of madness
So madly in love was I
With your smile and the richness
Of your laugh

Many years ago

Now the madness has receded and
Sanity has returned
I no longer vainly try to quiet butterflies
At the thought of seeing you

Now I go deeper

Every part of me resonates with your soul’s music
Our love has left the sunny meadows and hills
It’s battled dark things
And glimpsed the Light

Words fall defeated when confronted with
Describing the fruits that have budded and ripened in our orchard
Each one more wondrous than a magical journey
Half remembered from a dream

And there’s more and more of you to know
Because love is ever expansive
Limitless
It’s about Now swaddled in Forever

And I still lose myself in the curve of your face