And it came
Like a meteor
Striking my house
With a flash
Of light my
Phone silently chimed
There was your
Message which upon
Reading it in
The dark room
Made me sink
Back into bed
Like a single
Raindrop striking my
Cheek on a
Cloudless summer day
Making me think
Now where did
That come from
If never again
I have the
Great fortune to
Love this I
Know that those
That I have
And those same
That have returned
It to me
Have created such
An abundance of
It that surely
Everyone in the
World felt it
Like a solar
Flare leaping off
Of the sun’s
Face bathing everyone
With a bit
And it was
There in the
Shower when I
Learned you best
A place of
Nakedness with nothing
Between us but
Water and steam
No clothes to
Hide behind no
World to think
About no place
To be or
Time to keep
We called it
Our safe place
The one place
Where being ourselves
Was the only
Way in and
Only way out
I would rather
Forget than remember
On a prairie
As vast as
An ocean we
Sprout and struggle
Reaching up higher
Lavender and peony
Daisy and daffodil
Sunning like cats
On a windowsill
Each of us
Magnificently alone here
Until invisible vines
Tickle tender torsos
These invasive lovers
These relationships that
Slowly wind their
Way upward eventually
Becoming so entwined
That to pluck
One you pluck
The other too
But not me
I continue higher
Above the rest
Preferring to be
The best the
Tallest robust me
Chosen for beauty
And not simply
Because I’m here
As has happened
To my friends
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 