I love You Most

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!