Today you aren’t desiring what you lack! You love someone so much. You feel in a way you’re with her. Even when you’re alone! Does it get much better than that? It’s a laugh-filled journey down a water slide! A lot of splashing, a few tears in your eyes. This love is so big! It’s just got to move! It moves me. When I see all the little things you do. The gentle asides. Your vulnerable side. In glimpses. I’m dancing in clouds of you. It’s any way to Sunday. And there’s a million ways to some day. I can’t count all the things you do. They always feel new. Any one who approaches you had better be true. There’s something new that’s beginning today. Everything is balancing. What was off is on. This feeling of a new freedom. You have this way when you look down, and you say something gentle. You even once said my name. And there’s this vulnerability there. And that’s when the world stops, and everything is silent. A person can only catch it if he’s looking. It makes me so wish to hug you. I’m sorry, I can’t help it! To wrap you up in the warmest genuine embrace. To ward off anything that isn’t made of love and grace. And hold you sacred. You are sacred. You are what dreams are made of. I’ve never felt such love, such tenderness. It’s all-encompassing. I might not be a mighty oak, but I can provide you shade. Not in the modern meaning, but in an age-old way. You’re the parade! You move to a beat in me. It really feels that way! I’m the little kid, starry eyed, hearing the trumpets and the big bass drum, rounding the corner to where I am. I hop onto bigger shoulders, so excited when you come! To take in the view. Of you! Knowing this moment will forever reside. It’s timeless. You’re timeless. You shine straight into my heart. And I’m all lit up with love! It everlasts. Even long after it’s done. Littered streets of ticker tape when you have gone away. And I’m the wide-eyed little boy putting together a scrap book of you on my bed. While other boys play with baseball cards, this is how I look to you. You’re the athlete on the wall, but it’s bigger. Because you are. Bigger than it all! Even if you worked as a carnival barker. It doesn’t matter your role or the venue, it’s wherever you leave your marker. I see you that way, deep inside, where I’m still a little boy and you are my hero who resides. In me. You who can do no wrong in my eyes. There’s no “Say it ain’t so, Joe!” Oh, no! I’d carry your water. An apprentice through and through. If you only knew how I look up to you. Loving to learn about all that you do. The ins and outs. Not that I’d ever apply it, or ever do it myself! Oh, definitely not! Few have your gifts, and none has your magic. I’d love to learn because it’s a part of you. Through learning about you, a chance to feel closer when two hearts connect. If you ever feel my heart against yours, if ever a friendly embrace, I’m afraid you’d be overwhelmed. There are doors behind doors and passage ways and all sorts of hidden rooms. Levels and floors all containing my love. I’m afraid it would overwhelm, afraid it would feel too much. So, I hide the depths in the hopes you stay around. Where it feels cool and light and easy-going on the surface. Where I could be a friend. But if ever you are hurt and need an ear to bend, you intuitively know whose furnace burns hottest to the very end. Hidden underneath is a blazing inferno of adoration. Kept in check with a clean-cut look, and hopefully some light snappy dialogue. But I’m afraid I give it away with my eyes. These eyes that have seen a lot, and yet they only see you. In everything I do. Trying to put this love somewhere else is like trying to move Gatsby’s estate, piece by piece in a long tractor trailer truck. To who knows where! It’s a lot to move. But I like it right here. I hope you let me keep it. I hope you let it stay. I hold you so dear. I’d be so happy to be a friend. There’s no “just” before that title, as I can’t imagine a better end! At the back of your rolodex, maybe I’d be that last card of all. Quietly waiting there, always hoping for your call. Wow, how those digits would ring! Maybe you’d say, Ya know, I should have done this long ago, after all! It feels a little like home. It feels safe and serene. And you’d smile, big! Outside and in! Just a friend? Well, that’s just about everything! When the deepest wish is for a place in your heart, not a place in your bed. No feeling could come close to the laughter and the tears, that calling you a friend! There’s a touch of the way a parent loves a child, a touch of the way a dog loves her master, and while that other bigger stuff is magical, in truth, I simply wish to admire. You. Wonderful, beautiful, heart-stopping you! The leader of the parade! Because you’ve given me my smile. You’ve given me my voice. To offer you words that comfort when dealing with disaster. When nobody else will do. On a day when nobody else comes through. Just a silly genuine soul who happens to love you. I’m at the back of your rolodex. ❤️