A Change of Speed

The thing is, I feel slowly.
Emotions seep into my heart,
tentative, as if they were afraid.

But then I met you.
Nothing slow about that moment.
Emotion, fast, furious,
and now, years later, I can safely say it.

Real.

About this poem

The picture was taken at Hildene, Robert Todd Lincoln’s summer home in Manchester, VT.

This was one of those poems where I just pick a photograph and write to it, because nothing is raging in my head. And this came out. A love poem. I decided to leave the picture even though it does not obviously follow the poem. After all, something about it brought the woman I love to mind.

I have written before about my slow processing of emotions. It is neither a handicap or a blessing. Just a thing. But meeting my wife for the first time was, for my emotions, a complete change of speed. I am glad I trusted it.

Tom