so much joy in seeing a smile crease your face

as you look at me smiling back, even

under the tears you hold, without a trace

of anything but the love we couldn't mend

and the ringing in my ears, for only

your voice could bring me back from the very brink

of death, and the fears that made me lonely-

hearted, and love, didn't you ever think

that one day I might mean the words I say

so emptily to your trusting brown eyes

and didn't you think there would come a day

that I tried, when these words wouldn't be lies

anymore? all that matters now are your lips

and mine, never to leave behind your kiss