I loved you first at Norris Hill
when we were young, with time to kill.
Before I got the urge to roam,
to wander far away from home,
where time would no more be on hand
and you would slip away like sand.
I loved you then, for we were young
and sorrow\'s song we had not sung.
We’d sit and watch the sea and stay
until the rocks were worn away.
For we were young enough to stare,
too much in love to have a care.
I loved you when the snow lay deep
in winter, when the world would sleep,
while we made love (as sonnets say)
till dreaming took you far away,
across the sea, beyond the blue
to empty all my days of you.
I loved you all our years apart
and hid you deep within my heart:
a secret love I would not share,
discreet as an agnostic’s prayer,
which stayed unuttered on my tongue
like sorrow’s secret unsung song.
I love you now that twilight years
have wiped away our teenage tears.
And we, at last, have found our way
to Buxton, for our wedding day,
which fate had booked before we met,
when sun upon the earth first set.
I love you now love’s war’s been won.
For your sweet smile outshines the sun
and stars that shoot across the sky
that live a million years then die
will not outlive our love; I boast!
I love you now, I think, the most!