I Smile, My Love Poem by Herbert Nehrlich

Remember when we met,
we were a bit perplexed.
We searched the bay
and all its parks, some green
and others occupied
by Sunday crowds and dogs,
until we chose a spot
out of the sun, beneath a Eucalypt
where conversation would be free
and flow from mouth to ear.

I sensed a huge connect,
dismissed it though at once,
smalltalk was what we had
and liverwurst on rye.

You did not fancy the Dijon,
raised on pure butter
kept the spices low,
soon we would go
to join the crowds
so we could be
a bit more free -
you looked at me.

I caught your scent,
eyes focused now
and fingers got to touch,
your laugh contagious and
there was a need
to spend the time
we both were sure.

The afternoon could be
(if one were mean)
called awkward in a way,
was it the crowds, the sun
or just the newness
of a petal born to grow?

Remember, sure you do,
the time when dusk arrived,
when we just rested in that place,
and fully clothed talked silly stuff
until the Camelot in spirit intervened.

We spent those hours,
oh so precious
in the nude.
A million minutes
just a maiden and her dude,
we touched each molecule
caressed a willing skin
and kissed like teens
with sacred juices on our chin.

If that beginning in that summer did not tell
I do not know, I like your presence
and your hands,
I love the way you look at me
and how you smell,
inside my mind there is a man who understands.