MISSING THE KISSING

At least for me

one of the things that is missed

is the kissing—

think about it

at only two kisses per day

after 50 years

we’re talking about

close to 37,00 of them

and there were certainly days

when two kisses were just a beginning.

Will I ever forget

that first kiss

at her front door

the one that made me dance

all the way back to the car?

Then came the electric kisses

the hungry ones

that opened places in my heart

I didn’t know existed,

the passionate ones

that sucked the air out of my lungs

and put life into our love.

It was just one kiss

but it was sanctified

when it was OK

to kiss the bride.

Then that night

of the wedding

the sticky kisses

like the suction cup

that holds the Christmas Candle

to my window

lips touch slowly

not hesitantly

until they peel part

with regret

almost, it seems,

a cell at a time. 

She would say they made her weak

and dizzy

those kisses standing there

in our bedroom

dressed to kill—

or not dressed at all.

Maybe the best were the spontaneous ones

that just happened naturally

in the course of a day

for no reason at all

just a pleasant acknowledgment

of a gift not lightly accepted.

Although it happened every night

it could hardly be called ordinary

that peck on the cheek

or the lips 

with the words I love you

securely attached.

Those last kisses

when we knew there would soon

be no more

were the most precious

of all—

and,

finally, the kiss

on her cold lips

when she left the house

for the last time.

John A. Bayerl, March 22, 2012

Maybe it's the unseasonably warm weather we've been having that is hastening spring fever.  At times like this, how can someone who lost the person who made life make sense not be reminded of the simple sweetness of kisses exchanged in a life together?  Oh, those warm spring nights.  

It was a week ago that the tornado hit Dexter, ten miles from here.  Tonight it is once again clouding up and thunderstorms are in the forecast.  This is unheard of in this neck of the woods, but tomorrow I'm going to have to mow the lawn.  The good news about tomorrow is that Brooke will spend the day with me.  Work in the yard in the morning, then a movie in the afternoon.  

I've begun moving in the direction of meeting new friends.  I'll write more about that later when I kind of get things figured out a little better.  For now, it's enough for me to. like a turtle, carefully and cautiously poke my head out of my shell to see what's out there in the world.

The poem about kisses is all about you, Dear; how I miss all of it.