When I Think of You

When I think of you.. I get the warm feel of friendship, born not in a place, but from time and space. Friendship has a price -- Our first encounter, a caustic remark as I perceived, caused my ire to rise and my feathers to ruffle. What did this broad know anyway! When I think of you… I see Don Quixote and I wish there was a role for me. Dulcinea is taken and I refuse to be Sancho Panza. In quick response, being as strong-willed, as this iron-fisted lass, correspondence exchanged, and in my slow southern country style, I found, behind that northern accent, a wealth of information, and a heart of gold. From the first, I saw the masculine strength of your spine, aged, idealistic, chivalrous and yet naïve. Your indomitable will, your use of pen as sword, your 'walk the walk' Christian talk drawled. I found a poet with style and class, whose love for poetry only exceeded her willingness to expand the art and help others to grow. A man of many skills and kindness, I watched you spend night after night, cajoling poetry demons, leaving your Dulcinea in her bed alone to tilt at blowhards, as if they were windmills. In an exchange of thoughts and ideas, I gained respect for the person. I saw how beneficial her advice could be, and how she reveled in sharing what had taken her a lifetime to achieve. I had found a friend. My lifetime had been full of peasants with false faith and, he showed me his way.. an honorable way like unto my own, always trusting till proven wrong, always open-handed and open hearted, a knight in search of the Holy Grail. Differences, we have many, and we discuss them openly. Opposites on almost every level, but oh, what an experience to learn. So, charming a man who sees opposites but still value, causing a smile of knowing, not of opposites, but of vast similarities of heart and soul, cloaked in language, so rich, and expansive, the loop of left to right, the forming of the sign of infinity has expanded beyond his view, but not mine. I know. Dulcinea and Don Quixote hand and hand reach for the spirit daughter. I've never met the face, but I have found her words to ring true, her character to be upright and just, and I see a moral and disciplined soul. Through our mutual understanding and respect for the view of the other, we each have grown in our poetic journey, and the paths of our daily lives. a place is set and candles light the way-- mapquest Henderson & Guzzi