STEVE BAKER

Steve

Baker

DAY ONE (CELEBRATION, FL)

I departed in morning dark, headed for Indiana,

To see how the years were treating my father,

But stopped in Celebration and could not leave

For you were there, my love, awaiting me.

It was one of those perfect Florida spring days.

We had decided we would drink some coffee

Then I would be back on the lonely highway

With possibilities dancing in my head or dashed.

Suddenly you quite literally walked into my life,

Though I did not know the future when I saw you.

Yet by the time good omens rained from the sky,

You had entered some secret window into me.

Life was so simple and so beautiful that day.

We walked, we talked, we ate, we drank Sangria,

I looked into your eyes and saw myself there,

Immersed in the beautiful creature that is you.

Then the separation between us started to waver

With the magic passion of just our second kiss.

And as we stood there in the sunny green woods,

It was as if a key had been turned in a lock.

There seemed to be no limit to our communion—

We could talk about the most personal of things,

Or sociology or religion or anything in the world

And both would listen and nod and appreciate.

In those moments you gave me everything of you.

Later, when you gave me all the rest, my sweet,

When we made the most beautiful love imaginable,

It was an affirmation of all we had already given.

So just as I didn’t know how to stop kissing you,

And couldn’t find a way to stop sharing my soul,

Let alone how to exist not being inside of you,

I don’t think I know how to ever leave you.

Steve Baker