Out of the past, you suddenly appeared
and I stared, thinking again I had seen you where?
Years ago or was it smoke and mirrors?
Please don’t play with my feelings, if you care.

I sat there ever so sensitive and hurt
thinking I could never recover from death’s
near-fatal sting. I knew I had to avert
another blow to take another breath.

Yes, I had seen you years and years before —
such a sweet, young beauty that you were.
You, too, were filled with such grief galore
but it did not hide the beauty that you are.

Twenty-four years and counting, my sweet Valentine.
I am the most fortunate of all that our lives are entwined.