HALF A CENTURY

A picture from my wedding album.
Celebrated our anniversary a couple of weeks ago.

Dear Husband,
I wrote you a poem about the lessons of fifty years.

It was about love, its mystery, paradox,

How hard it is to flow with it, how it teaches

About kindness but also its lack.

I wrote about how love can live then die

Then live again. I even mentioned lust.

I'm not giving you that poem.  

It was true but academic, anemic, artificial

Like plastic flowers with no scent.

Instead, I'll give you this one.

It's real.

I really love you.

You are the poetry in my life.

Simple words can be enough.

After all these years, I know

That you already know.

(For Poets United.)