For T.R.
© Sara L. Russell 14th February, 2003

I gathered up the morning dew
into a gold and silver flask,
stirred into honeyed thoughts of you
and set my quill about the task
of writing something that would be
a celebration: yours and mine,
inscribed on vellum, secretly;
a poem for my Valentine.

I took the kisses of your lips
and poured their memory through the quill:
your broad, smooth torso, slender hips,
slumbering eyes, long-lashed and still,
a vision as seen through my eyes,
within the bed where we recline,
from years of love grown deep and wise;
a poem for my Valentine.