When I Held Your Hand

Was a chilly evening in November, night after Thanksgiving. I took you out for a celebration of Dickens on Main Street. Traffic was bad, parking even moreso, so far away we had to light.

Almost two years we had gone out together, not as romantics to you, but only as friends, a sentiment my heart did not share.

Summer just past, I told you of my love for you, too late, for a moment later, you broke this heart that loved you without measure.

Autumn came and brought you back to me. To you, I can only guess, still as just a friend, perhaps blissfully unaware that my heart, while mending, still had a fire that burned only for you.

So on that cool Autumn evening when the winds were sharp and the crowds fierce, I found the courage to take your hand in mine, for a brief second, small, warm and precious as a beating heart to me. And in that short time, less than a fraction of a blink. of eternity’s eye, I held all the happiness in the world.