it was a time
reserved for wishing
– the fields were flush
with grain
when a boy
of almost nothing
stood his ground

he dreamed in shades
of fourteen years
a girl behind the glass
found him
as he found her
leaning in

offered up a place to go –
 folded worlds of wonder
took no mind
to what they’d find
tears and joy
and laughter

sailing out
beyond the window pane

three months
down a dusty road
he found the nerve
for asking
far more than this
more than lives could bear
took her for a midnight ride
down across the border
trading rings
and counting stars
between

another then
and moments past
without the need
for telling
what was left
and all a heart might hold
rockabye
and baby –
let the buntin stay
for all we know
was this
our chosen way

now again
the road becomes
a path someone forgot
leaves are falling
scarlet
round my bed
reminders sit in flannel
sheets of gabardine
where he was
she fills
the time between

Author’s Note: In September 1955, a man and a woman shared
their first kiss. He was 23 and she only 14. Three months later,
they married, and two months after that, he was discharged from the Air Force.
Seven days later, he started a job he would work for 52 years. Nine
months after that seven days, I was born. Still they yearn for
one more kiss, and I am blessed on this day – when they celebrate the
start of so very much love.

Story is everything.

. . .