Valentine's Day

For my husband on
Valentine’s Day 2016

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Bellaggio, Lake Como, Italy

We just returned from a party,
And I bask in feeling the lucky partner
Of the most attractive man present.
Had it been the first time I saw you,
I’d have made sure you’d notice me.

My 75 birthdays to your 71.
Together for almost 28 years
And legal for 24 of them.
This, my third round to your second,
Of blending our respective pasts.

Despite the toll they took on our bodies,
Whatever first passed between us
Still works its magic after all this time.
I still respond to it like a young woman in love,
Who treasures you can still make her laugh.

Physical attraction has gone beyond
The explicit expressions of lust.
But flirting -- a not-to-be forgotten art --,
Kindles the flame now as it did then,
With a beguiling smile, touch, look or word.

Hormones wane but hearts don't.
Tenderness prevails over passion.
Faithfulness grows into devotion.
Trust keeps growing deeper roots,
As insecurities and fears lose ground.

Spooning before vanishing into sleep
Paves the way for our mutual contentment.
It punctuates, at the end of each day,
Our shared but silent hope “to be the one to go first”,
So as not to have to re-learn life without the other.