Love's Winter

I caught a glimpse of Love,
like poplar trees in winter’s embrace
forming lace-lines against the greying sky.
Love fluttered, trapped in those black branches,
then faded into a melody I heard once and
forgot, buried in the memory of your eyes in twilight.
Love never took up home in my breast
to flourish and grow, to deepen;
it never reached its ripened harvest
in the wheat-golden summer of your body.
Instead, with autumn’s rusty brown
Love burrowed into mydarkquiet
to rest through snowfall and wait for thaw.
I sit quietly, remembering my glimpse
(the way it reflected in your smile)
how Love beckoned in sweet siren call,
and I cannot shake the haunting
that hopes for spring’s pink melt.


1 May 2006