All night you'd lay asleep

enfolded in my arms,

breathing slow and sweet.

I never understood

how it would prove to be

such a luxury to feel

your hand, warm in my hand

your kiss onmy cheek.

Lovers and friends

are all that matter.

You'll never know how much it

came to mean to me

to have you by my side

in battles lost and won.

And now I understand

these things can never be

guaranteed.

I wish I could recall

each mundane tenderness,

remember every look, each word,

preserve every breath,

each kiss, each caress.

Lovers and friends

are all that matter.

I never thought that I would

watch you drowning

far from any sea, on crumpled sheets,

white sand in your eyes.

Lovers and friends

are all that matter.

And now when all I have of you

is a memory,

I raise my hand to touch my cheek,

imprinted with your love.