Things I Have Loved

 

The sky, ever-changing in colour and mood,

in sun, in starshine, in midnight moons.

The river wild, remembering my old

wolf-dog's eyes looking helplessly at me
as the current caught him,

and he started drifting away,
me getting ready to

plunge in after him, till an outcropping 

caught him, returning him to me.

For I have loved him best
in this world.

I have loved mornings, the certain smell

at the farm that takes me back to

summer mornings as a child; and that

golden time in late afternoon, when 

the light changes and turns the trees

to amber; and that smell - petrichor -

just before the first drops of rain,

and once more I am back in childhood,

listening to a thunderstorm
in the back room

with my Grandma.

Sunrises and sunsets, which I miss 

in my elder years, because I am always

still tired, when I wake up, and
too tired at day's end.

But I remember, I remember, skies

that looked like the floor of heaven,

me sitting on a log, wondering

if the one I loved loved me.

He didn't, but my wolf-dog did;

he showed me how love was
meant to be done.

I love the tiny purple crocuses 

out on the lawn, brave forerunners,
as spring tiptoes in,

just waiting to spread her skirts

of white blossoms across 

the two old cherry trees
in the yard. I love

sitting out front in the sun, and rocking.

I love the big window through which

I watch the world walking by

with its children and dogs and canes.

I love when they wave and I wave back.

I love that on Valentine's Day

I woke up to discover that

someone unknown had taped small hearts

all across  the front windows - love,

to make a stranger smile.

I love the narcissus and tiny pink rosebuds

on my desk, bringing spring right to me,

with months of wonder yet ahead.

I love ancient old growth: thick weathered

trunks and old man's beard, moss and lichen,

and feeling in the forest like I once did

long ago at morning mass:
silent, peaceful,
reverential.

I love long sandy shores stretching

to forever, and the way my wolf dog and I 

walked them, wildly, joyously;
never again
would I feel so whole, so free,

after he was gone from me.

Inspired by "Things I Didn't Know I Loved" by Nazim Hikmet