# Love Under the Falls

As into the cooling pool we tread,
Where silver waters veil the stone,
The mountain's breath around us spread,
Yet in that world we stand alone.

I turn to you—your beauty bright,
The crystal mist upon your skin;
The waterfall adorns you white,
As though the heavens drew you in.

I lift your face with gentle hand,
Your eyes, two quiet forest streams;
Within their depths I understand
The secret architecture of dreams.

I bend to meet your waiting lips;
The roaring waters fade away.
The world dissolves in one eclipse—
One silent, everlasting day.

My hands, like rivers finding seas,
Trace every sacred curve they know;
With every touch my spirit frees
The hidden fires that softly glow.

A living current climbs my spine,
As heartbeat answers heartbeat's call;
Your soul, beloved, woven with mine,
Like sunlight through the falling wall.

The water cannot cool the flame
That neither wind nor time can still.
Love whispers softly through my name,
And bends the world unto its will.

The garments that the daylight knew
Become but leaves upon the shore;
For nothing fashioned can subdue
The truth that drew us evermore.

There, hidden by the falling rain,
Where heaven kissed the waiting earth,
We gave ourselves without refrain
To love's unspoken, sacred birth.

No shame beneath the open sky,
No fear beneath the watching sun;
The waters blessed each whispered sigh,
Till heart and spirit flowed as one.

Beneath the blessing of the sun,
With earth and sky our only shrine,
Two wandering spirits, joined as one,
Your breath forever mixed with mine.

And long after the waters cease
To sing against the ancient stone,
The memory shall remain as peace—
For there I found my journey's home.

**The Giving of My Name**

I would entrust to thee my hidden name—
The one no stranger's tongue was meant to bear;
For names possess a quiet, sacred flame,
And leave the soul unveiled to those who dare.

A whispered name may place the heart at stake;
Its syllables, once spoken, cannot flee.
Yet I would trust thee—not to wound nor break
The tender cord that binds my soul to thee.

I would surrender every secret room,
The dreams that bloom where waking eyes are blind,
The silent hopes that perfume midnight's gloom,
The undiscovered country of my mind.

Take all of me—the sunlight and the rain,
The faults I carry, and the grace I own;
The songs of joy, the old remembered pain—
Let none of me be loved by thee alone.

I long to greet the first pale breath of dawn
Beside thy waking, quiet as the light;
To hear thy voice before the day is born,
And keep thee company through every night.

I would be witness to thy passing hours,
To every thought thy gentle spirit weaves;
And build with thee imagined, living towers,
Raised high by faith no winter ever leaves.

If there is magic left beneath the skies,
It lives not in the stars above the sea,
But in the soul that trusts another's eyes,
And dares to speak its truest name... to thee.

Sometimes I think thy gentle face doth bloom
Within the secret garden of my thought,
As though some moonlit lily, sweet with dew,
Had by an angel's quiet tending wrought.

I know not how such tender marvels come;
No mortal tongue their mystery can tell.
Yet oft my heart, before my reason wakes,
Hath heard the music where thy spirit fell.

Though many a mile lies sleeping 'twixt our hands,
Some unseen fragrance wanders from thy breast,
And like the evening's softly-breathing rose,
It steals upon my soul and grants it rest.

When Night, kind mother of all dreaming things,
Draws her dark mantle o'er the weary skies,
I charge my soul to cast its earthly weight
And seek thee where the silent starlight lies.

On viewless winds, through fields the moon makes pale,
It flies beyond the world's encumbering shore,
To stand beside thee for a little while,
Till rosy Dawn shall call us home once more.

And if, perchance, thy slumber gently stirs,
And some dear happiness no cause can claim
Should warm thy heart before the breaking day,
I pray it was my spirit spoke thy name.

When evening draws her quiet veil,
Your image seeks my waiting mind;
I wander back through words we've shared,
And find your gentle spirit kind.

Like moonlight dancing on a stream,
Your smile returns without a sound.
Though miles and moments lie between,
It's there that thoughts of you are found.

Through every ordinary day,
Your memory rises with the dawn.
I wait to see your name appear,
As thirsty fields await the rain.

The room grows brighter when you laugh;
The morning envies such a light.
Your wit, your grace, your steadfast heart
Turn common hours into delight.

The world may praise your lovely face,
And rightly marvel at its art;
Yet what has captured all of me
Is the quiet goodness of your heart.

To walk beside you, hand in hand,
Would make the richest king seem poor;
One hour spent beneath your smile
Would be a treasure evermore.

You meet my laughter with your own,
And trust me with the truths you keep.
If fate had written kinder lines,
I'd walk beside you all my days.

Your spirit shines like steadfast stars
That guide a traveler through the night.
And when the evening claims the sky,
I dream of you until first light.

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**To Know You**

I would know you—not in passing,
As strangers know the summer rain,
But as the earth knows every season,
And the sea remembers every shore.

I would know the quiet hour
When sleep releases you to dawn;
The first soft light upon your face,
The sacred hush before the world begins.

Tell me the language of your mornings—
The patient ritual of waking,
The cup held warm between your hands,
The thoughts that bloom before your words.

Let me walk beside the story of your days;
Not only where the laughter gathers,
But where the hours pass unnoticed,
And love is measured by simply remaining.

I would hear the music hidden in your silence,
The cadence only your heart can keep,
Until its rhythm finds my own,
And two songs become one hymn.

Let my lips be the last to bless your evening,
A whispered promise before the stars.
And when morning crowns your brow with light,
Let my kiss be the first thing the day remembers.

I ask not only for your brightest hours,
But for your weary ones as well;
For love is not the feast alone,
But also the breaking of the bread.

To know your heart
Would be my greatest joy.
To know your love
My richest blessing.
To know your mind
Would be to wander galaxies
Yet never lose my way.

For in you
I find no stranger.

In me
You are no guest.

And in the quiet country
Where your soul and mine have learned each other's names,
There lives a single truth—

Not I.
Not you.

But the beautiful
And eternal
We.

Out for my morning walk. Nice and cool this morning