Love is;

when my eyelids open and the world

appears to have remained within my embrace,

when my breath unveils a gasp of freshness

inhaling the verve of a new day,

when my ears can hear the joyous sounds

of songbirds just outside the window pane,

when the whistling of the wind calls the

voices of the trees swaying to and fro,

when i rise and my legs can move to walk

and my arms can swing, hands can grasp,

when the waft of lilac entices while a warmth

of shelter encases my mind, my body, my soul,

when i look around and see my little girls

of canine descent curled in their space, their abode,

when i see the joy of my heart laying next to me,
the light of my soul whose spirit is one with mine,

when we've walked through life’s travails gently

holding each other’s hand through loss of love ones

and knowing that love, our love, prevails