Girlfriends

They loved each other, not driven by necessity, by the

"blaze of passion" often falsely ascribed to love.  They loved

each other because everything around them willed it, the trees

and the clouds and the sky over their heads and the earth

under their feet. Perhaps their surrounding world, the strangers

they met in the street, the wide expanses they saw on their

walks, the rooms in which they lived or met, took more

delight in their love than they did themselves.