Like the sun breaking through the clouds, so did he enter into my life. With his love, he drew me into a realm like none I've ever known. With his music he fills my heart with joy, he lights the fire of my passion and pierces my soul to its very depths with longing and tears.

I offer these sonnets as a gift to

Joe,
my love and my life

whose music I hear even in the silence of the night. His whispers, the melody that rings in my inner ear. His love, the beacon that lights the hidden chambers of my heart. He is, undoubtedly, my inspiration and my muse.

As Henry Wadsworth Longfellow so aptly said:

"Music is the universal language of mankind -- poetry their universal pastime and delight."