These I Have Loved

Here's a poem from high school. I'm thinking about writing an update or an addendum. Because that last line stands out to me like a challenge -- my younger self of ten years ago asking me what has changed about my loves. Here's a challenge for you, gentle reader: what are your loves? If you like, go write a similar poem on your blog!

These I have loved:
cloudless skies, brightly beaming; red rocks
jutting up out of glittering blue water;
cool water after a burning heat; the rare and musty smell
of rain on sultry pavement; a New Zealand rainbow
over sloping-green, sheep-dotted hills; red tulips
blooming against shining snow; little yellow bananas,
fresh and tropical; the crisp sweetness of German cherries;
the bustling U-Bahn in Munich;
the warning spoken at Dachau, and the poignancy
of Germany; the intriguing lilt of a foreign language;
a humpback whale’s inviting song,
luring me like the Sirens’ to the deep;
the thunderstorm’s thrill; a new car’s smell; an old book;
the long, thin, snorting snout of the kiwi bird,
and the spontaneity of the Sydney Opera House;
warm wind wisping through free-flying hair;
clean, bare feet on cold tile; a child’s gurgling laugh
and the euphonious laugh of a tenor; square,
melting cookies with mustache milk; mud
oozing up between my toes; a comfortable pair of shoes;
a fun hat; a dog’s warm head resting on my knee;
the texture of watermelon, juicy, grainy, sweet;
spinach salad, soft and crunchy; a sentence well-said;
exhilarating acceptance letters; mail from friends;
crocheting to the tune of Jane Austen; sisterhood;
a friendly hand’s light touch; penetrating blue eyes, and warm, soft browns;
the broadest forte of a full symphony, and
a string quartet’s smallest piano;
the awed silence before the mad applause;
dreams;
an old photograph, concealing stories now forgotten
and untold – but my passions will not go untold
or forgotten. These I have loved,
and these will remain,
until I myself change.