EXPRESSIONS OF LOVE YOU LEFT ME

You drowned in the unforgiving ocean so many years ago.
I was but 28 and you were 32 the year you left
But when I look at the gifts from you I've got with me to show
The years seem fuller to me, and less bereft.

The professional photos of my family that you took.
You captured them from an insider's point of view.
Glances and shades of meaning from a simple look--
They weren't strangers to you somehow, but folks you well knew.

I still wind up my music box "Someday My Love" violinist/dancer.
My teardrops fall in time to the music today.
Perhaps you knew that one day I would turn to it looking for an answer?
About why those waves took my promises from me with their salt spray.

You left me with your "coat of many colors" dreamcoat
I put it on after a shower and feel close to your love.
I remember how you wore it when you wrote.
And I wish for some of your magic from above.

I wear a sweater that was yours all the time
I imagine I am wrapped in your loving arms.
It's just old wool, but to me it's sublime.
Even though it has few of your deeper charms.

My darling, you left me so much it's as though you knew
You were leaving me behind to get on the best I could.
I have suffered a deep loss that I think I never will get through.
But I never will let go of you, not that I ever should.