The Sweetest Words

The sweetest words are not as sweet
nor tender as you are to me
I gasp with passion at your touch
and rest my head on your heartbeat
And hold you close and near to me

The world goes as it always has
but your lean face is all I see
Black eyes with light far deep inside
your kisses like a melody
Kindling music inside me

Sometimes I reach and you're not there
have gone out on the balcony
To watch seagulls fly through the air
and feel the morning coolness in your hair
And then you turn so suddenly

As if to wipe away a tear
you will not let me see
And then you hurry back to bed
your eyes lowered towards the floor
A darkness round your head

As if unsure that I am real
and that our love is not a dream
And will not vanish with the mist
on a foggy morning:
Your arms firmly encircle me

Let the love convince you; have no fear
your gentle soul is all I need
So bring me closer: have no care
you need not turn so restlessly
And sleep so, faced away from me

Heartache is mortal, yet with you
I feel immortal as the breeze
Where did this fear come from? This dread
that you might go away from me?
And leave me lonely in my bed?

I love you and I'm sure you love me back:
true love and its waters run deep
And never fade away from lack
of passion or of need
Please stay, my only love, with me

And yet you turn, despite my words
And jerk away from loving hands
And stare once again at the birds
Flying over the land
And swooping down upon the sands.

Copyright © 1995, Joseph Santini II.