we found the way
tho surely meant
we couldn’t keep the traces –
would scarce recall
breath without a seed

we’d come in search
of where the petals warmed
(beneath the drifting)
of where the dogwood pink
was lost a bloom or two
a twig or so –
another time
(forget) to know me now

we have no way –
no certain proof
of rhyme before this rhythm
a promise made
no measure ever kept –
confession made of sleepless nights
(the skies were younger then)
tears to show
where we were lost
in finding us (again)

there’s an ancient oak
by a crooked fence
making sense of waiting –
a place where destiny still reeks of smoke
a hidden patch of frozen time –
ablaze beneath the branches
where once we were alone
and nothing else

do you remember now the reasons
this choice to be again
to find the way –
with will to understand
why clouds still gather softly
above the deepest snow
a time we scarce recall –

the day we loved