was past the need for choosing
when I chose again (to be)
no memory remained of
what you said
(or what I heard)
was only my (desire)
a need to search each wonder why
and when at last to understand
reasons as I would
choose (to choose) again

roads to breech
and days between
paths took me away
rural roads
and tin roofs (singing still)
boxes nailed from tree to tree
a river flowed right by
(had I forgotten
just how blue your winter kiss)

I waded in
teased by leaves
were somewhere spinning songs
pieces left of me (I couldn’t place)

held me there
sad as sails
(kaleidescope of colors)
pulled beneath the rapids
by the flood

forever breaks
in ripples along familiar shores
stretching clear and deep
to raise the proof
of time (a sweet surrender)
not as young as I was then
leaves fell from branches
of the tree where first we loved

lost from where they came
they go (again)