Now older, your dark hair turned to light,
Your mind and words, sometimes, turn back on older days.
I see you, lost in remembered joys:
When you felt powerful, and the world was open wide.
Perfectly beautiful, complete in yourself,
You can’t disguise how much you feel you’ve lost.
I did not know you in those days;
The Venns of our lives had not yet overlapped.

We willingly trade the things we love
To aid the people we love,
But that does not mean the process is
Without grief; nor does it lessen
The good of the present.
Vanity is air: not really there, in some ways,
But totally necessary;
Love is like water: surrounding and
Caressing us.

I look at you, across this swirling warm pool,
Eyes closed, mind of former days, and think:
My love, you are still so beautiful, so strong:
And while there’s much we must let go of,
Never let go of what makes you

You