There Have Been Five Loves Poem by Jeff Hobbs

Since adulthood five have gained the phrase
Since passing through and touching
Each in their own strange way
Each teaching and learning through the gaining

Since finding truth is a life long journey
Since years build on years of before
Each has been a stepping stone
Each has protected me and opened me

Looking back I see them now
Faces lost but never gone
They haunt and heal
The five who owned my heart

One taught me of soul, of friendship,
Of trust. With her I shared moonlight
She gave laughter and peace
Innocence so ready to be betrayed

One taught me of hope – of music and secrets
Of leather bound dreams and birds in the rain
She offered beware and be careful and stop
Confusion and sadness and song

One taught me of life, of closeness, of me
Of madness and sorrow so deep
She brought me to oneness in shattered pieces somehow
And of history ancient and new

One teaches me daily of life as it is
Of every day’s needs and desires
She is my companion in hope and in growth
Cherished in ways yet unknown

One fills gaps unknown in many strange ways
Of life left unlived and is me years ago
She hovers so close in unreachable ways
And teaches me more than she learns

Of the last two is future in ways yet untrod
A strangeness and challenge of hope
I love them, I loved them, I will love them still
May God bless them and give them true peace.

4 June 2006