only as I see you leaving
my heart jumps like a small, over-excited dog
– you, this being this entity, this collection of
nerve endings and nude beginnings, you
have taken root like a faithful tree,
your branches searching to discover
but not to grasp –
you teach me
in your ancient tree language
of dignity and respect,
of love and discipline and how the two
are not so far apart;
and so it seems you have made an imprint
on my heart,
faint to start but growing deeper as the realisation blooms
that you are not the person I have been waiting for, all this time –
nothing like that fantasy you are
living, breathing, flesh and skin and eyes and
underpinning all your gentle, curious, loving, playful mind