Have I Told You Lately that I Love You?
How is it that we can wake up humming a tune that fills a deep spot we need filling?
“Have I told you lately that I love you?”
Has been that song. So simple and yet on a soul-level a medicinal tonic.
“Oh, the morning sun in all its glory greets the day…”
As I make my breakfast and pour my coffee, the sun filters through as a slow dance touching my shadows and warms me.
“with hope and comfort too…”
Music like this is love and it is divine. It patches the holes in the loneliness that too frequently gets ignored and filled with upbeat antidotes — ‘it’s not that bad.’ ‘you’ll be fine.’ ‘you are so lucky.’ Or worse, ‘you brought it on yourself.’ ‘if only you were different.’
While it isn’t bad, and I know I’ll be fine, and I am lucky those words still feel cold and hurtful and don’t give credence to the experience of being alone.
Alone is a state that feels the wings of loss ever so tenderly. It also has needs and wishes and dreams for companionship that echo…
“Fill my heart with gladness
Take away my sadness
Ease my troubles….”
And while we have friends and pets, there are days we really need to hear:
“Have I told you lately that I love you.
Have I told you there’s no one above you…”
That would be golden to be adored for who we are. It feels surreal and yet I watch and witness it around me, so I know it is there. There’s an intimacy that navigates wordless as much as a hug or when someone reaches for our hand to hold and understand.
“And at the end of the day
We should give thanks and pray
To the one, to the one…”
This is a reminder to keep going. It’s a love note from the universe singing sweetly,
“There’s a love that’s divine
And it’s yours and it’s mine…”
And somehow those words and tune help me.
Have I Told you Lately, Songwriter: Van Morrison. Currently listening to Rod Stewart singing as I write this little ditty.
Carolyn Riker is a poet, writer and author. She has two books of poetry: Blue Clouds and This is Love. In addition to writing, she has a private practice as a highly sensitive mental health therapist. If you would like to read more of her words, follow her on Facebook at Carolyn Riker, MA, LMHC.
