FOR THE FIRST TIME ...

FOR THE FIRST TIME

For the first time I looked where I had not, I looked at where the ashes fell in that consecrated spot,

Where we loved and lost, I first discovered what you said five times before, And dropped a promise I stepped over. The words beneath melted frost, The ponds that drip forever, Dripped like we dropped it all together.

For the first time, I realized, we stared at that same spot, When you were betrothed to another. Smiles across the garden, Made a life in our imagination, The pollens ablaze in our memory. Linked by stems, Pollen beds and haze, Dropped our hopes in a downward gaze. Like leaves floating down a river, Never meeting for days and days, Standing above the city of our fears. Sincere touches from destinies clutches, bunches up to tears. Prize open my eyes, I’ve never been but walked through gardens in the sky.

And when I looked again, I saw you were in the same spot, For the very first time.

by Laurence Fuller, 2023