The joy lies in knowing you've found the missing piece.

Gathering fragments, ever so slowly, turning them over in hand.
Always in motion, no time for puzzles
No place, for long, did she stand.

Months turn to years,
The young girl grows older;
she wonders of all she missed.
Paths not chosen, trips not taken,
The lover she never had kissed.

She'd heard all the stories,
All rooted in legend--the one piece that all others sought.
More precious than diamonds, and rarer than rubies
The one prize that no treasure bought.

Years of hunting, of saving the pieces,
On journeys she loved to recall.
But still evasive, after all these years
Was the piece that completed it all.

Then one day, she met him--at once she knew him
This man with soft, gentle eyes.
His touch was familiar, his arms a safe haven--
All at once, her heart realized.

Copyright 2000 Traci Hayner Vanover