long the days
were dread to nights
and hid beneath the secrets
of times we were together
trusting fate
to intervene

as planks along
the leaning barn –
broken lights and lunas
quiet as a mist
above the pond –
trusted as the early chill
wrote upon the window –
signed our names
so sure the spring
would find us
after all

the failing bliss
of Christmas morn
to hold us down
to treasure –
as auld langsyne replayed
and played again

no more the need
to hurry –
lest our essence
be consumed –
as petals lost to weeds
along the way

would ever I be missed
to every moment I endured
or rusted by my hands
upon the plow

faded now the cowboy
that lived within my curtains
with tales
that served to prove
was here I loved

long the days
we fell into –
the wish for one more
season –
locked beneath the secrets
concealed by yesterday