Aging Love

Being still in love with my sweet wife
After well over forty five years,
having each of us taken a lover
I've had long and deep conversations
With my wretched and troubling conscience
About my feelings, my loves and my actions...
As honestly as I've been able

How can you look at an old love
That has lasted for so many years
And not realize that love will have changes
And in fact it will die or grow deeper
This is where understanding is foremost
Because deeper can mean many things

A strong love needs loving and friendship
Emotional and physical loving
And friendship beyond being friends
Responsibility shared in full measure
To enjoy the success and the laughter
To support the tears and the trouble

But holding becomes more for comfort
Than for passion's explosive excitement
Heat goes to warmth, with some flare ups
And variations begin to form patterns
And the love is still there but now common

Curiosity, with passion's denouement
Opens eyes, open minds, open doors
To the thoughts once never considered
To the others, to betrayal, to loss
Or to others, and a different perspective
That strengthens by relieving the stress

Old issues that used to cause warfare
Become bickers that can turn into laughter
Old problems now dealt with are pride points
And comfort and warmth are required.
Life has melded the minds and the hearts
When old love doesn't die, then it thickens

A couple can truly become such,
In spite of the wanders and trysting,
That the thought of one sans the other
Is something that can't be considered
Will they decide on the day of their passing
To prevent separation's slow death?

We learn about love much too slowly
Build boxes with beliefs and traditions
That can stultify life and bring sadness
This where understanding is foremost
So love won't die but will get ever deeper
Until we reach our natural end.