lyrical and lilting, my favorite passages were: "raised-eyebrow kind of smile," "morning light stripes the room," and "twinkling left from starlight," - this repeated, thus coming full-circle, was very effective.

Thank you, Nick. I share your appreciation of women.

The passions of loving our beloved drive most of us to express our emotions in our unique and personal ways. In loving them, we may find that, due to and because of their presence in our lives, we may also love ourselves more. In loving us, perhaps in the same way, they love themselves more, too.

Likely, I appreciate women as much as do you. I tell people "I'm straight, not narrow." How others feel "in their skin" about their beloved, we cannot know, only imagine. I imagine if ones beloved is the same gender and they share a committed, loving relationship, that as a result they feel about themselves and each other similarly as you and I feel about ours.

With your lover close in your mind, you've written a heartfelt piece. Have you read the poetry of love by other poets? Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "How shall I love thee?" is a good example. Have you heard such poems read recently in public, say at weddings or anniversaries, or given from one lover to another? Using the language borrowed from yesterday's poet, a lover today expresses feelings for which their own words fail. Suppose one day, one lover selected your poem to be read to another in public. Using your words one lover would express his or her feelings for another. It would be a beautiful thing ... would it matter if those lovers were of the same gender? I suspect, they don't feel they are missing anything.