If Love Were Paint...

Sitting in the surgery waiting room, me beside Uncle Miles,
you between your sisters, across the way,
I study your face, now sweetened with one of your smiles,
now darkening as worry returns to its place this day.

I'm filled with such gratitude that I have you healthy and whole.
Can you feel the love emanating from me as it sweeps over you
in waves powerful enough they should warm your very soul?
Too bad the world cannot immediately see I love you as I do!

Suppose my love could cover you with a 'new coat of paint' look.
I'd slather this love paint over you from head to toe,
covering every surface, filling every cranny, each little nook.
Then, how much I love you, all encountering you would know.

Yes, yes, how wonderful this might be! Why there could even be
different colors for the various types of love - red for spouses,
blue for parents and child, green for friends... Wait! Suddenly I see
how this wouldn't work. My imagination's fire... reality now douses.

Still, wouldn't it really be great if the love you receive were to coat
like paint; so people who are loved, everyone else could identify in this way.
Then maybe we'd share our love with any unpainted people we note...
Here comes the surgeon! My musing must stop to hear what he has to say.

Harry Edward Gilleland      2.2.02