Sparkling eyes, reflexive smiles, natural urge to hold and hug and feel heartbeats together; lots of small talk and nontalk just being happy; truly knowing the indefinable sounds of each other in waking and in sleep; daring to endure and hold still for the long slow bite that increases as a dare to break the moment; walking hand in hand in the park and then sitting still together, just as a natural duo, whispering to each other that all the wise people around wish they were so lucky; knowing the joy of joys, to be joyful that your mate is enjoying each moment of whatever they are doing, each morsel of crabmeat and buttered cob corn, each trilling of the birds flitting near, and just the joy of being joyful for them is the overflowing of your heart for the reason that life doesn't have to make any other sense; being openly grateful for love to the point of blushing red embarrassment in public and in private; letting the hot tears of said embarrassing need and fulfillment flow freely and without worry of the untidy sniffles and ringing ears; giving forth the aching groan of animal rawness that is unlike any other human sound, confident of being unleashed and yet also sated and unguarded; take me for granted with each breath, and equally dire depend and hunger silently for me as the next breath which you also unconsciously inhale; live with me until my every breath smells of your own essence and we are not so different that it then is obvious that we are incomplete without being together.

what do I want?

nothing.

No cards, candies, flowers, candlelight dinners, circled dates on calendars, umpteen phone calls or text messages. I want none of that.

if you do not know what I want and need, then it is foolishness for me to respond, for you cannot be the one.

What do YOU want?

Whew! Be still my heart....

I just realized that was sarcasm.