Catalog Aria

Rachel, lately I've found myself cataloging
Images of you, your smile; your laugh,
Oh God, how I love your laugh with that bit of surprise
It always contains; your unique gaze - has anyone else
Noticed this but me; the way you wait; the way
Your hand touches your face; your face, so beautiful;
Your openess to beauty; your complete lack of pretension;
Your love of Mahler's orchestration; your ego which should
Be so much bigger; the way you eat as a true companion,
Your good-humor and undying cheerfulness,
The troubled sleep you took in my bed once when I
Nursed you and fed you lunch before sending you home;
Your determination in the face of puzzles and models;
Your hair of the many faces, your face of the such constancy;
Your way of patiently moving your look over to me
As if you know I've been waiting, and your eyes come,
Without hurry, without resentment and with generosity.

And then there are the images of moments
Imagined and longed for but never realized:
You curled up next to me through a night
When for once I don't sleep as to not waste
The comfort of being next to you,
Rather than not sleeping from
Wondering if you ever think of me?
I imagine the meals I would cook for you.
I imagine the changes in your life,
The travels to Italy and New York together.

So many other things.
So much nicer to imagine them than
To wonder if you ever think of me?
Do you ever think of me?