By Way Of Explanation

Young and very much in love
I’d often be overcome
by emotion
unable to express
the depth and breadth of
all that was swirling inside

Sometimes
finding words –
though not the right ones
I stumbled over them all
the reasonable response rarely emerged

Less than articulate
and reduced to tears (happy
tears, sad tears – confused
or laughing and crying all at once tears)

‘You always end up in tears,’ he would say

I did not
feel sorrow or regret –
certainly not penitence (for therein lies
it’s true meaning) and yet
sometimes, ‘I’m sorry’ is all I could manage to say

Heart was overflowing, but I was powerless to explain.