You came to me when I was upside down,

When smart and kind and calm were just the salve

To soothe and smooth, to see beyond the frown,

To give to me the gift I had to have.

I came to you, a crossroad up ahead,

Two paths: escape from entropy to plot

A way forward with a plan; or to tread

Still water ‘til a lifeline showed its knot.

We came together in a time of need

Unknown. Two separate souls searching to find

What we didn’t know we wanted. A seed

Took hold, a buried golden vein was mined.

Now twenty-five years on, I still believe 

You are, as then, the reason that I breathe