Definitions

Love is…

Reading each other newspaper tidbits until noon

Lingering over fresh-baked bread you did not have to fetch yourself

Making fresh coffee just the way you like it

Stretch and laugh, share opinions,

Sometimes crisscross, spar, advance, retreat,

But never interrupt

Or hold forth counter-Napoleon.

Then we clean up the table, go back to our work,

Maybe a spot of gardening, jam-preserving,

Equally well a poem might get written

A picture or photo now framed.

Having drunk from our wells of separate being

We can meet again for a walk on the hills

Gathering mushrooms or stopping to exclaim

Over wildlife hoofmarks

Or cloud patterns and airplane trails

As we shuffle on

Hand in hand towards

The welcoming, song-filled forest.