0 I Have Always Loved You

I take my Sweetheart by the hand
And on the path of life we will stand.
It doesn’t seem to us so long ago
That we were young our steps then fast but now so slow.
We think of the future with hope but talk mostly of the past.
It is so nice to still hold hands but knowing that it will not last.
Our age it seems has caught up with us so quick
And one day one of us will become very sick
Our hands from each other slowly slips
As our last words will pass thru trembling lips
“I have always loved you” we will say
But it was knowing that this would come someday’
We have traveled this long path together with love, laughter, joys and tears
Facing every obstacle and working thru all our fears.
No more hugs, kisses or caresses for each other
Just memories of the years, months and days together.
Those thoughts I hold with a long sigh
As I have whispered my very last good bye.
Now I stand on this path so very all alone
The one I loved so dearly has now gone on home.
So my father in heaven, away up there,
The one that I love is now in your care
I know someday that I will rise to enter in
Until that time my new life to begin.
So now I will wait until I start my life a new
When I can whisper thru trembling lips
“I HAVE AND WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU”

--James R., 88