It all started with my first -
the one who inspired the first poem I ever wrote;
and then, over the years, there have been
others whose names now sometimes
get stuck in my head as well as in my throat.

It has always been hard for me to move on -
to resign myself to the fact that
my relationship with some things
and with some people
has now been and is now gone.

Whenever I meet someone new
I never anticipate ever saying goodbye...
whenever I know that it might be the last time
that I get to see someone who I love
I always feel sad and I always want to cry.

If someone has inspired me
that means that there is something
profoundly special about that person...
if I have fallen for someone that means
that I made a connection with them
than for me can never be undone.

If things were once good between
someone else and I
then that must mean
that there must have been something
wonderful between us at one time -
especially at the beginning...
even when some things ultimately go bad
that does not mean that everything
that happened should make you feel
as if you wasted your time -
because what you went through
was unbelievably memorable
and deeply meaningful and inspiring.

Even after a heart breaks love lingers on...
even after you lose someone
the memories that you shared with them
continue to mean something to you -
sometimes long after you
thought them to be lost.

Your first is never your last...
you can never hide from your past...
we all have our own individual version
of a story that only we can tell our side of...
we all know what we have to sacrifice
when we find someone who we instantly love.

I have loved... I have lost... I have been inspired...
I have felt fulfilled... I have felt the pain of lies...
I have felt the most powerful force known to man -
love - in times of utter darkness
that has given me hope, happiness, and light -
and it is to those people who
inspired me, once upon a time,
that I wish to pay tribute to:
those people who gave me a gift
that I will never forget
and who to me will always be a muse.