ENAMORED

ENAMORED

(For Kyle on our 24th year anniversary)

Like a stream in a desert, arid and warm,

Rain cooling the earth with a brisk summer storm,

Grace and beauty flowing, making all things new,

I am enamored, so enamored with you.

Like the dew in the morning that sweetens the grass,

Like a quick gulp of whiskey from a small shot glass.  

Like the well tailored man of great style and class.

You have made me one of your chosen few

And I am enamored, so enamored with you.

As the lifeguard is to a clear blue pool,

Like the student who's loyal to his school,

Like a wise king welcomes the motley fool,

You have kindly welcomed me too,

And I am enamored, so enamored with you.

Like a clown in a circus paving the way,

To a happy, bright, splendiferous day,

Like sunlight is to an arbor,

Like a ship is to a harbor.

Like a lighthouse guides the sailors, ever tried and true

You have gallantly guided me too

And I am enamored, so enamored with you.

Like a town crier with his proclamations

Ending each one with an exclamation,

We have been together now 24 years,

Had quite a few laughs and a smattering of tears,

You are my every mystery and my every clue,

You fill my heart with happiness, as all good lovers do

And I am enamored, so enamored with you. 

 -Bruce Potts

Copyright 2025

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

TWENTY-THREE

TWENTY-THREE

(FOR KYLE ON OUR 23RD ANNIVERSARY)

Today I stop and deem myself a very lucky man,

For you came to me when I was drowning,

And there was sand in my shoes,

Filled me to the brim with treasures I could use,

All the bombs blasting detonated and defused,

In the cool cavernous reaches of your affection.

I knew you were the one for me 23 years ago today,

I gave you my heart and never looked back.

You and I were on the fast track as lovers and as friends,

And though we've weathered many a storm 

You were always there to keep me warm,

In the winters of disease and death.

We have had our mettle tested and emerged from the rubble,

Shielded from despair and lifted out of trouble 

I want to thank you today, for always standing by me,

For being my best friend and defender and my partner in this life,

For setting my spirit free to blindly, bravely soar,

For taking me on journeys I had never been before.

I thank you for unconditionally loving me,

For helping me up after a fall, for being there whenever I called.

From cane to walker to wheelchair and the phases in between

Through all the trials and travails and troubles unforeseen.

We have built this love stone by precious stone.

I look at you and marvel just how fast the years have flown.

Though we're only getting started and I know there's more to see,

I pause today and celebrate the wondrous twenty-three.

-Bruce Potts

Copyright 2024

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

SERENDIPITOUS

SERENDIPITOUS

(FOR KYLE ON OUR 21st ANNIVERSARY)

Serendipitous for both of us,

That love has knocked upon our door.

Stayed with us for 21 years,

A permanent fixture, the perfect mixture

Of painful and good times.

How sweet the verse that rhymes

And leaves us wanting more.

I still love your hand in mine,

Thrill to your embrace.

Smell the scent of new colognes,

Every time I'm near your neck

Or kiss you on your face.

Serendipitous for both of us,

To share the same journey and walk the same path,

To share the dark times and the shadows,

And things that make us laugh.

A Netflix show in bed at night,

A cat video or two

How fortunate a man am I,

To have found a love so true.

A caregiver and partner rare,

You're still the man who makes me stare,

With you there's wonder all around,

Whether life trends up or down.

The vacations you have stoically missed,

To care for me after a fall,

The cancelled plans disease demands,

You have come when I have called.

You have spent days off taking me

To doctor visits and the like,

You have filled my soul with butterflies,

You have saved my very life.

I hope I have a thousand lifetimes

Even though how fast time flies,

To dedicate this love to you,

In the shade of clear blue skies.

So let the August sun beam on,

Upon us as we celebrate.

Twenty-one years of togetherness,

Dodging the slings and arrows of fate,

Love the houseguest a permanent fixture,

You and I the perfect mixture,

Of painful and good times.

How lovely is the verse that rhymes,

And leaves us wanting more.

I will always come after you, calling your name.

Raising a glass of sweet champagne 

To a love so bright and luminous

Serendipitous for both of us.

 

-Bruce Potts

Copyright 2022

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

INSTEAD

 INSTEAD

(FOR KYLE, ON OUR 20th ANNIVERSARY)

On our 20th anniversary,

I am laid up by a fall,

Cannot get out to buy a card,

Movement is an order tall.

With all the time that's hurried by,

I sit in awe and shake my head,

And pen a paean to the life

I have shared with you instead.

I write of travel, Paris, Rome, Quebec and Montreal.

Our myriad trips around the sun,

I have loved and savored all.

In my dreams I can revisit them,

Just cast my shells upon the sand,

I close my eyes and gladly go,

To Ireland or to Amsterdam.

Since my illness you have been,

My North Star ever bright,

Chasing down my walker,

Keeping me upright.

Praying I do not fall again, 

Harder for you than for me,

Putting up with the mockery and the tease,

Of this strange, savage disease

So in place of a card or a festive balloon,

How about years  of memories,

And a quiver of arrows to shoot out the moon?

I send to you a cavalcade,

Orchestrate a grand parade to get inside your head.

I will pen this paean to the love

I have shared with you instead.

-Bruce Potts

Copyright 2021

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

INDISPENSABLE

INDISPENSABLE

(FOR KYLE, ON OUR
14th ANNIVERSARY)

In this desperate age of love,
Fidelity out of fashion,
When partners change and rearrange,
When they claim they've lost the passion.
When love is tossed aside,
Dented and denied,
When marriage vows mean nothing
But grains of shifting sand.
It is then I come to realize I'm quite the lucky man.

In this day of thriving lawsuits,
Where love's reduced to money and things,
Life's random odd pursuits.
When everything it has its price,
When everything's compensable.
When employers love to tell you
You are far from indispensable.
A number on a pay scale,
It's good to know that the truest of loves,
Is never up for sale.

Untold harm is done by lovers,
Who care much more for a quick cheap thrill
And a romp beneath the covers.
When sex is all we care to see,
And not true intimacy.
We toss our partner on the trash heap,
Along with the vows we pledged to keep.

I'm glad I've a man who understands
That life is not a one night stand,
That forever means a lifetime,
Of walking hand in hand.

I shake my head in wild dismay,
At so many couples gone astray,
Love so easily thrown away,
Lives in utter disarray.

And yes, we all live longer now,
And yes, there are exceptions,
Yet there is still so much of love,
That can be saved and salvaged,
By a shift in our perceptions.
So let me raise a glass and toast,
The few role models standing,
For those who've overcome the most,
Through patient understanding.
Who know now how to overcome,
Life's desperate slings and arrows,
Who cling to each other all the more,
As the road begins to narrow.

It is fourteen years I've been with you,
Through the good and through the bad.
I cannot bear to even think,
It sometimes make me scared and sad,
To imagine a future without you there,
Your funny face, your words of care.
To leave would be a silly move.
As if I had some grudge to prove.
An unjust reward for someone so sweet,
That God has laid right at my feet.
You are my sun, you are my moon.
It would be quite indefensible,
For you are as the air I breathe.
Fresh and indispensable.

-Bruce Potts
Copyright 2015
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

SO WARM, SO TRUE, SO GOLDEN

SO WARM, SO TRUE, SO GOLDEN

(FOR KYLE, ON OUR ELEVENTH ANNIVERSARY)

There is nothing magic in numbers,
Except perhaps to a Wall Street hack,
And eleven years seems a long, long time,
In my rear view mirror looking back.

I always knew our love was passion,
I always felt the raging fire,
But now it’s more like a tree-lined street,
With a lone bird singing on the wire.

The sight of you straight from the shower
Can still send my passion over the edge,
But day to day, love’s a sheltering bower,
That calls me away from the ledge.

My demons yell useless, my demons yell jump.
But yours is the voice of reason I heed.
You nurture the wound, get me over the hump,
With the kick in the pants that I need.

Our passion is hot, but our love runs the deepest,
When the road is the roughest and the hill is the steepest.
My only complaint on this sun drenched ride,
Is the lack of time in bed by your side,
Love consummated in spoon.

The touch of your hand is the lay of the land.
And still sends me over the moon,
I’m all the while grateful and wearing a smile,
Mindful of time disappearing too soon.

Work takes you away from me, and love won’t pay the bills,
But to see your face is a touch of grace,
Like flowers are to a windowsill.
And when I hear the garage door open at the end of your long day,
I count my blessings silently that God sent you my way.

I hear your feet caress the stairs,
We share the day its joys and cares,
And in the end what more is there,
Than to look into your eyes and stare.

No, there’s nothing magic in numbers,
But eleven years seems a long, long time,
For your beloved footsteps to coalesce with mine.
I’m happy for the sexual tension and happy for the heat,
I’m happy for the years we’ve passed, the mystery and mystique.
But most of all I’m happy for the lone bird singing,
Upon the fencepost on our tree-lined street,
The flowers laid upon my heart so fragrant and so sweet.

I remind myself on this grand anniversary,
I remind myself eleven years in,
True love is more than a passing fancy.
True love is finding a soul mate and friend
Love is more than just passion and heat,
Love is plush teddy bears that say I love you,
A peck on the lips before sleep.

I’m well aware of how I’m blessed,
Beloved man of grand finesse.
Eleven years of sailing these smooth and rocky seas,
The hourglass it has shattered, suspended in deep freeze.
You have stood by me so gallantly,
Through good times, through disease.
A million kindnesses you give,
Within this storybook we live
I thank you now for all of these,
And know how deeply I’m beholden.
For all the gifts you have given me.
So warm, so true, so golden.

-Bruce Potts
Copyright 2012
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Note: Today is the anniversary of Kyle and me meeting exactly eleven years ago. Love you, my dear, and thank you for being always "so warm, so true, so golden".