Essential

Can you not understand
how essential you are to me,
to my life
The need is greater than
any I have ever experienced
The need for water or food
cannot even compare
The need for air,
that vital element for survival
That’s what you are to me,
vital, crucial, critical..
When I see you,
or think about you,
I feel as I did when I thought about
Christmas as a child,
Easter, birthdays, running through
a field of flowers in the spring, barefooted;
Wading in the edge of the lake,
with pants rolled up to my knees,
knowing it was forbidden
Running through the woods, full-speed.
As a child, there was no fear
But with these feelings,
sometimes fear does sneak in
Uninvited, unwanted, and
I try desperately to push it away
Sometimes I succeed, sometimes not
Just as one who feels
they will might suffocate
Without that vital element, air
You are that vital element in my life,
As one deprived of air,

I could not survive without you.

©Copyright 2006
SLG
All rights reserved. No further use,
reproduction, or distribution in any form,
including print, electronic or otherwise, may bemade without the express permission of the author