February 14

I don’t need to hear you say “I love you”, I
want to know you do by the look in your eyes,
the touch of your hand, the way you listen when
I talk. I don’t need candy, flowers, diamonds or
trips around the world. I only need you to be there
during my darkest hours when I cover my head
and wail like a lost child because life has left me
bereft. I need you by my side when it counts: when
the hurricane is coming, when loved ones die, when
friends desert, when I fall into the biggest, darkest
hole I’ve ever been in in my life and I push you away
and say I hate you and I hate my life and all other
manner of despicable things. I want to know you
will never, ever leave me.

And I do.

***

Written for my husband, Published in Camroc Press Review 2015.