While there was a delay up ahead
at the counter
I offered the lady in front of me a spare
copy of a 30% Off coupon.
She looked at the coupon and then back
at me while her face imitated a sunrise.
“Oooh, I love you,” she said.
I wish years ago I had known it was this easy.
Decades now lost, invested in offering
attention and affection, the currency of
quality time spent along with kind deeds,
thoughtful questions, interest in the answers,
romantic poems handwritten in calligraphy,
candles and arranging moonlight to
hit the window just so,
miles upon miles of garden walks,
handfuls of fresh cut flowers,
picnics with expensive cabernet,
four seasons of conversation
and now, only now, do I learn
that a bookstore coupon offering
a third off the highest priced item was
all that was needed.
-- rLp --