Still…

For Hamid, Valentine's Day 2024

Hope was far from reach
True love a distant fantasy
Lost in suffocating confusion
Life had left me only dross

In the midst of tenebrous days
Languishing in ineffable dolor
The blaze of your laughter
Kindled in my breast fragile hope

Your love came softly… gently…
like a clear day shining brightly
hope wrapped around my heartache
and turned dross to gold

The years now have flown
Yet our love remains unending
Love sustains hope sustains love
Unfailing, unflagging, still remaining

Your luminous ebony eyes
bathe my heart in love’s radiance
Your luminous smile still dazzles
Setting my frail heart aflutter