The Key to My Heart

It’s our anniversary today, so I thought I would offer this to my sweetie again:

How can it be that I feel younger
now, with you, than I did in grey youth? Grimly
pacing the cage of my lonely hunger
for love, I tested the bars and dimly
saw no way I would ever feel joy’s breeze
on my face. But Love–whose whimsy and light
laugh was, from the deeps of time, revealed
anew in your caress, your kiss, your bright
smile–gave the key, and freed me to walk
in the open air with your cool, good hand
in mine. And since that day your love unlocked
my heart I have not aged, but ripened and
grown golden in the glory of your face,
upturned, shining, silver-framed with God’s grace.