Lust for the past
 

Oh God, I could love her now,

Gone these ten years and yet,

I could love her right now in this

Street, up this alley, in this park,

All the places where we used to

Love when we were young.

 

She wore the most convenient

Styles. Everything easy to undo,

Unbutton, slide down, hitch up. How

Did I lose this gorgeous spirit of life?

This carnal joy, this bedrock of my

Very being, my friend, my soulmate,

My lover.

 

I thought myself all grown-up and yet,

Underneath I was a child, blind, stupid,

Eager to move on to pastures new.

I didn't see love for what it is, but what

I thought it was, and when I look back,

I can see that I swapped gold dust

For sand.

 

Now my refuge is poetry, that gentle place

Where all words are make-believe, and

Every utterance a fantasy, except for the

Fact, that the depth of detail is a little too

Close to truth, the pain a little too palpable,

And the tale a little too rich to silence the

Cry of a broken heart.

 

© Joseph G Dawson