You have changed

You have changed
since we parted ways.
Your natural beauty
I couldn’t see
has risen like a tidal wave
to overpower me.
It’s all I see.
But we’re friends
and I’m lucky we are.
The wake of my departure
almost drowned you.
Almost drowned me.
You are so strong now,
so sure of yourself.
I sit by your side
at a table full of people.
You engage,
charm
and win over these people
who’ve never met you.
These people who know me
and wonder
why I let you go.
I wonder myself.
I fell in love with you.
I fell out of love with you.
And here now,
at this table
I fall in love with you
all over again.
But I know how much
I hurt you.
How much
I changed you.
How little I deserve you.
You have always been the one woman
I loved.
The one woman
I asked to marry me.
Here.
Now.
I wish with every fiber
of my being
that things then
had been different.
You will always be the woman
I compare every other to.
I’m glad we’re friends.
I’m so lucky we’re friends.
I will never try for more
again.
But I will always be here
watching over you
and hoping
that life gives you more
than I ever could.