I Loved You

I loved you while we walked alone
Along the fine white sand beneath
A sweet crimson blanket of sunset
That covered us and hid the pleasure
We sank into under the palms.

I loved you with glistening lips
That sparkled from your kisses and
With a heart that knew it had not
Loved you more but would
As the silver moon rose to watch over us.

I loved you when our children splashed
In bubble bath and stubbed their toes
And recovered from the pox
And again through the PTA meetings and first dates
And broken hearts and postgraduate degrees.

I loved you when we rested to sip coladas
Upon the fine white sand beneath
An orange sunset that covered us
With a heart that couldn’t understand
How it could love you more but would.

I loved you when our naked grandchildren
Fled their baths and pulled the dog’s tail
And cried when the tops of their ice cream cones
Landed in the dirt and when they asked, so confused,
“Grandma, what’s grandpa doing???”

And I love you now as age and time have drawn their lines
Across our eyes and cheeks and while we, once again, walk
alone
Along the fine white sand beneath a golden sunset,
Your lips still glistening from my kisses, and with a heart
That knows it cannot love you more but somehow always
will.