And while perusing
The bookstore of
My life I
Happened upon an
All-too familiar story
Of sweetness newly
Discovered in a
Landscape of bleakness
Of quenching rains
Of kindness after
Parching droughted meanness
Of long-awaited holiday
Gatherings after months
Of dark loneliness
It’s a story
Where a crooked
Smile sets to
Light a string
Of otherwise dim
Bulbs you reminded
Me of this
And it’s you
That has become
Yet once again
My favorite story
And then we
Became that pause
Between parts of
A symphony that
Moment of coughing
Rustling of pages
And cellophaned mints
We’d just ended
The first movement
With thunderous crescendo
And now rest
Awaiting the sweet
Melodies of what
Is now next
Love is the
Easiest thing in
The whole world
Yet the hardest
To find let
Us leash our
Dogs and pull
Off the armor
And dive nakedly
Into the pools
Of each other
Swimming together with
Childlike abandon on
Warm summer afternoons
Why is it
That when you
Feel the heavy
Heartache songs feel
Like hammers pounding
Anvils yet when
You find someone
New it’s the
Pure sound of
A tap on
A crystal glass
These are the
Sounds of love
No matter how
Often I close
The damper memories
Of you somehow
Trail down the
Flue of my
Mind reigniting the
Heartache of you
Catching embers that
Were so close
To being ash
Then erupting to
Full blaze and
Once again scorching
The new growth
That sprouted atop
What was once
You and I
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 