And just like
Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake
I have realized
That true beauty
Is only realized
At the point
At which it
Is gone forevermore
Is it that
Our eyes blind
Us or is
It that our
Heart sings a
Sweeter melody let
Me remember you
Like the winter
Remembers the summer
Like the drought
Remembers the rain
Let me remember
That one starlit
Night in Sardina
When your eyes
Outshone the heavens
I stepped away
Like a storm
That dumped its
Rain on mountain
Tops deciding to
Be cloudy rather
Than another storm
Bringing peace instead
Of selfish torrents
Giving me room
To decide whether
What we offered
Was what’s needed
Rather than wanted
Like protective parents
With a child
In a bakery
Filled with desserts
And bread like
Travelers finally breaking
Free to see
The canyons vista
Please give me
Time to choose
Because I know
That one road
Leads to you
And the other
Well the other
Leads to nowhere
And as I
Knew you responded
For my cry
For help chasing
Me down the
Beach as I
Was caught in
Life’s rip tide
Hollering here swim
Here to me
Flailing and tired
I followed your
Voice like a
Retriever following the
Splash here over
Here to me
I heard again
And again at
Last breaking free
And into the
Water of hopelessness
You ran grabbing
Me and pulling
Me into the
Safety of arms
And so like
An unopened letter
I’ve decided to
Keep myself to
Myself like a
Telephone that went
Silent mid sentence
I kept saying
Hello to no
One finally hanging
Up the receiver
Now like a
Snowless Christmas in
Wisconsin I’m missing
That one thing
That made all
Of the other
Banal things possible
And now we
Are a diminishing
Drip drip drip
After months of
Monsoons after months
Of downpours after
Months of thunder
What remains is
But tiny splashes
In an overflowing
Cistern adding nothing
But more to
Lose maybe to
Water what’s next
HARLAN DIDRICKSON 