once
when there was nothing else
I held you –
soft against my stutter
til you became
more of me remembered
than e’er my heart
could hold
quiet as dawn
upon the snow
then I was leaving
o’er and o’er again
leaving you
with everything I ever
knew to be
quiet in the sky
beyond the stars
you waited
til I was gone –
I could hear you
in the pines
in the quiet desperation
of wings against the night
pressed into the ether
my stutter
my surprise
was to find you once again
forgotten why I left
let me stay
remembering the wonder
of why I came

. . .