We decided not
To meet yesterday
And like planes
Grounded due to
Weather we retreated
To the gates
Of our homes
Where we did
Meet the old
Fashioned way via
Telephone and enjoyed
Three marvelous hours
Just like as
If we’d met
At the airport
Face to face
Had been delayed
But our bags
Containing laughter secrets
And stories made
It after all
I am thinking
About tonight like
An actor backstage
Getting into wardrobe
Running through lines
Remembering his movements
His motivations wait
Do I have
Have I forgotten
I have rehearsed
This play many
Times before tonight
As I step
Up to your
Door I must
Remember to do
One simple thing
Ring the bell
All the rest
Will come naturally
As though I
Have played this
Part often before
And like the
Harpsichord of Bach
Your toothbrush infused
Good morning wafted
Through the steam
Of a Mozart
Minute as the
Thunder of water
Started like the
Mars from Holst
Moist and toweled
You dropped to
The bed like
The delicate notes
Of Hayden as
Your lips touched
Mine like Rachmaninov
As if things
Couldn’t get worse
I have come
To learn this
That trying things
Is but one
Third of learning
Things the other
Third is feeling
Things and the
Last third is
Understanding these things
So is the
March of your
Lifetime and lifetimes
With each step
Whether it be
Small or grand
Whether it be
Across a day
Or a lifetime
Or many lifetimes
You’ll always arrive
At the place
Where I am
This second to
Last lifetime the
Lifetime of understanding
And in this
Lifetime after a
Long line of
Lifetimes that have
Dotted history’s landscape
Like tiny snags
In an angora
Sweater I have
Been charged with
A simple task
To meet those
Souls that I
Have loved before
Accept them as
They now are
And remind them
Like a child
That recently tumbled
Of what we
Have been and
Who they are
And tell them
With bittersweet love
That this isn’t
The first time
But will definitely
Be the last
Time we will
Ever be together
Known as the
Souls great breakup
Never to be
Another next time
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 