You knew not that I gaze upon you,
as you lay prone during a night of dreamy sleep.
Watching your nostrils expand and contract
with each slow, quiet breath bringing a smile
to my face and joy-filled thoughts into my heart.

I know my face flushes because my love words are so intensive!
To say them aloud, for them to be heard, I become so pensive.
I fear that to shout my adoration might seem incomprehensive,
leaving you feeling I am being way too suspensive.

Thirty-eight years have come and gone since the Fall Day
when I asked, "Would you consider marrying me?"
Your smiling reply, "Yes, I would consider marrying you."
Only to realize, in my introverted way, I fell short when
my intended ask should have been, "Will you marry me?"
To which I needed to restate and deliver with this direct specificity!

In today's circles, I want the world to know you are my soulmate,
but I fear this sounds so humdrum and seals my fate
by sounding so languid or bathetic - that it is on thin ice I skate.
So very intimate are feelings of love swelling my breastplate.

Over our years, both of us chasing careers,
and busily raising the boy and the girls,
we grew a closer bond and rode
together life's ups and downs.
I admire your subtle power that often
carried us both through thick and thin
and back again.

So, I whisper into the night as you rest,
"Soulmate, my priceless treasure, I am blessed
to have you lay your head upon my chest
Your presence fills my love nest with zest!"