A Valentine for My Teacher

The meaning of love I have sought forever,

With hope to find it no more than a sliver.

But love's meaning Fate has now uncovered,

And here is what my heart has discovered.

Love is a sacrifice, a giving without measure,

That magically becomes an emotional treasure.

Love is a choice to see beauty and perfection,

No matter the humanness of my special person.

Love is that deep and breathless anticipation,

Of looking into your eyes, the eyes of heaven.

Love is knowing that of all the stars in the sky,

There is one especially twinkling for you and I.

Love is a sacred trust held tenderly in my palm,

A womblike shell protecting the other from harm.

Love is believing  and affirming and inspiring,

A lifelong wellspring of support and nurturing.

Love is that painful push out of life's cozy nest,

A spirit of soaring transformed from fear's test.

Love gives meaning to life as a motive force,

That intertwines two souls into a single course.

Love is that unique, spontaneous connection,

Without which life is empty, a cruel deception.

Love is that piercing stab that knifes my heart,

When the time comes for my other half to part.

Love is a deep devotion, a passion that blinds,

A fiery warmth sending chills down our spines.

Love is an embrace and a kiss that never ends,

When time stops and the profane world suspends.

Love is that comfortable and carefree silliness,

A contagion of childlike giggles and playfulness.

I always thought of myself as wise and knowing,

Seeing and understanding and always growing;

But I was taught this meaning of love I never knew,

When Fate intervened and I fell in love with you.