Looking In All The Wrong Places

February this year found me looking at valentine cards for my sweet wife. I had been thinking about this since the first of February and now it was time to take action. I wasn't too worried about finding a card. If I can't find a valentine that I like, there are always the friendship cards and she is, after all, my best friend. The thing that concerned me was what to write in it. I didn't write a single poem in 1998 ( a fact that I have been reminded of a time or two), and now I really felt like I wanted to write something special for this special lady. I found a card that I really liked and took it home. This was Saturday and Sunday was Valentine's Day. All day long, whatever I was doing, my thoughts kept coming back to that card and what to write in it.


Sunday morning Analia had a meeting before church so I knew that I would have an hour or two to think about what to write. As I was showering I was thinking about how special she was to me and how much a part of me she has become. After nearly 22 years it is hard to imagine my life without her. It occurred to me that even when she is not with me physically, she is still always there. She is a part of everything I do, think, and say. At night when I hide away in my cave (Martians do that sort of thing), it is entirely different when she is in the house and when she is gone. The house just feels different. And in those wonderful times when I am alone with my thoughts on a mountain top, she is there, always beside me, always in my thoughts. It is as Paul taught to the Ephesians, "For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh." She is my life, my eternal friend, my want and only desire.

Looking In All The Wrong Places

Where were you when I needed you
On those long and lonely nights?
When my heart ached so ,
Though you would never know,
And I stared at the starry lights.

Where were you when my heart was full
With joy beyond compare,
And I longed for an embrace
Or a smiling face
And someone with whom I could share?

I searched for you where the flowers bloom
And streams grace the rolling hills.
And the wind sings songs
To the trees so strong
And all is calm and still.

I chanced one day to study my face
And the lines that I try to hide,
And to my surprise
Right before my eyes
You were standing by my side.

I pondered how this came to be
That you should be standing there,
With eyes aglow,
With a love that shows
And a smile soft and fair.

I searched for you where the flowers bloom
I searched from sea to sea.
And now I know
With your face aglow
Your more than just a part of me.

You are my life, my eternal friend
My want and only desire.
You share with me
For all to see
The love that lifts me higher.

I can't find you by looking where
Wind and streamlets sing.
You are in my heart
Where love never departs,
You are my life, my everything.

Gale L.Wolfenbarger
14 February 1999

Copyright © 1999 Gale L. Wolfenbarger