There you are,
as clear as my own face in the mirror.
It makes me smile to see you, to know you:
beautiful and bold,
wild with energy and creativity,
a complicated mystery even as I behold you,
not lacking in cheekiness to keep me always on my toes.
I lament and wish that I could keep up with you
but most of all, I want to make way for you,
to clear any obstacle so that
you can do your thing.
You surprise me — even after all these years —
you amaze and delight me. You give me definition
and purpose, even though your being and your doing
are strictly your own: I have no claim on them.
Is it impossible to thank you for being you?
Let me just love you
with all that I am, with all that I know
like the sun loving on the earth,
like the tree loving on the birds in its branches,
knowing that the opposite is in fact true:
that the trees could not rejoice if there were no birds,
the sun would have no glory if not for the earth to shine upon.
Without you, who would I possibly be?
Let my soul be unceasing in its rapture,
let my voice always speak words of praise alongside your name.
My Love and my Joy, my Heartbreak and my Healing,
O God my God, just look at you! There you are.
