Wednesday, February 15, 2017

Old Love

Let the world be soft, so very soft for a moment, for this moment.
Let the world drift away much as piano notes drift away from a gentle sonata.
Let the world be tender and oh such a light thing suspended in a warm gentle space,
where nothing harsh or cruel or severe creeps into our hours as evening moves from twilight to sleep.

I remember that day as we walked along the edge of the water.
            Was it then our love first came, I don’t remember, do you?
Our feet were bare and our white trousers were rolled and we danced out and back
            Into the lapping of the waves.
I so remember the scent on your neck as I first kissed your mouth and then caressed that space
            Between your supple shoulder and your graceful neckline.
            Was it White Shoulders, I have never been good at these things as you know.
The waves kept coming and soon the bulky cuffs we had hastily created from the rolling of summer cotton wear,
were soaked with salt and sand and the fluid of all life.
I remember your eyes so dark peering into mine as if seeking to see my soul.
I remember the golden sun that was creeping away from us,
            As the first cool breezes of a summer evening came wispy and gentle at our forms standing in an embrace that would be a mark on our lives for the ages.

If I still smoked I would stand outside and cupping a match within my hand I would light my tobacco,
Drawn from a crumpled soft pack found in an interior coat pocket.
Drawing deeply, I would eventually let the smoke escape as I waited for the release that nicotine brings to the brain,
            That calm.
A red ember shinning at the end of a Marlboro or a Kool I would stand alone,
in the dark of this day so many years removed from the edge of the waves, from the August warmth, from the passion of your love.
If I still smoked I would stand outside on this cold winter’s night and stare out among the stars

            Remembering.

And then I would go back to the bills, the dishes and the demands of the life my choices created.

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