of a moment
I’m uncertain –
where choices came undone
days dissolved to years
so close –
this far

of somewhere else
forgotten by –
the distance worn between
will – no more forsaken
than the memory
of ways –

and houses where
the chimney fell
twice that awful winter
windows broken
boarded
by the want to gather in

and huddled we
together
in the space
where secrets fell
trading lies
for mysteries
stories fitting still

to loving curves
shadows pulled away
by evermore
– murmurs
of redemption
echoes burning bright

warmth –
a fragile trading
of all we came
to love

. . .