After all these years,
how do I find new words to say
“I love you”?
I’d have thought so many seasons
would wear the old ones
rather thin,
like favourite jeans.
My love for you
is threaded through each day.
Every time
I use the words again
they carry with them
all the past I-love-you’s
like pearls
embroidered onto years of silk.
I wonder at the way
this extravagent creation
fits comfortably
like old familiar clothes
or second skin,
and yet is daily new.
I give you
all these woven years of love,
and start my needlework once more –
“I love you.”
— Christine Rigden