Dear,
I would have loved you but
The sky was so bright today
The light so bare and empty
That my world, of sidewalks and cypress trees,
Was all a vast frontier

I would have loved you but
I remembered a dusk
Settled in the midst of the orange groves
Where the thick air sang of crickets
And the creaks of screen doors spoke of home

I would have loved you but
A child smiled today
Holding the hand of his grandmother
Unconsciously happy, both of them
They were my Raphael

Dear,
I would have loved you but
I gave my love to moments
Of quiet sunlight, shining of stillness
I gave it to the stranger with a Scotty dog
Because his plaid coat glimmered of an ideal