Below are just a few excerpts from my book "Night Gardening: Passionate Poems for the Beloved." I hope you enjoy them as much as I've enjoyed sharing them with you.

MEETING AGAIN Have we passed in the night so close the air between us rippled with held breath? I have been patient, content to tend and sort, plant bulbs that won't show a leg until April. Now I shiver with expectation, know without doubt you're just beyond the bend of light that winter brings, and I will not wait for another spring.

SONG OF PATIENCE More and more I hear your voice and know you understand. All the way, with open hands that comfort, you guide me home to a land within the sound of laughter. Colors of my heart are clear. Distance is the fear we left behind. Know why you have come and are divine. There's a path before us, reappearing in the mist. We leave the old outgrown noise, turn inside and find our bliss in the pure, wet taste of love along the shore. I feel stages of relief and hear washing waves of peace heal our ancient, angry hearts. Only God can come here for us; only trust can unlock doors we've seen but rarely opened in belief before. Patience is the queen of virtue; understanding comes our way. Old begotten fears can vanish: drop like leaves beneath the light of one more day. With you I feel the truth before the story's done: from the window of the soul, through the eyes, beyond control. We are free among old souls who have united, one by one. Moving together, our journey has begun. Patience is the queen of virtue; understanding rules our house. Open feelings flow together. Come inside me, let your arms and hair and mouth release the past; be alive to love's new ways. Beloved, you are my light at dawn. Patience is the queen of angels; understanding is her song.