Andrea Wendling
Please for tonight
Just be my wife
She is my life, my center,
She is what makes me whole
And I am finding I cannot exist
Without her
Smell like her
Like hayfields after a day of hard work
lavender and milk baths
Warm breezes blowing through still forests
All of this mixed with the soap
That we shared
That now too slowly disappears
Touch me like she would
Like I belonged to her
Slow, steady, without surprises
Know instinctively when I need to be calmed
And understand when I need
Your lips, your touch
So desperately that I cannot
Live in this skin
Without you
Feel like she does
Strong and slight
Your skin rough in places
Melting into my touch in others
Pull away from my lips
Yet fill my mouth
Your cross brushing my chest
As you rise above me
Melt into me
Sighing softly
Never talking
And for that moment
Completely believe
That I will simply
Always be the one
Please for tonight
Become my wife
And help me to feel again
That my life is complete.
About the poet:
Andrea Wendling is a rural family physician in northern Michigan. When not writing poetry, she spends her time caring for her patients, community, husband and four amazing children. “Patients share so many complex emotions with me throughout the day. Every now and then, one of these emotions will follow me home and demand some attention, eventually finding itself woven into a poem.”
About the poem:
“This poem grew from a conversation with a man who had been recently widowed. Even complex emotions tend to be simple at their core–here, love and loneliness combine for this man with the desperation felt when trying to repair something that can’t be fixed. As with life, this poem ended up being more complex, but at its core, ‘Please For Tonight’ was always meant to be a love poem.”
Poetry Editors:
Judy Schaefer and Johanna Shapiro
