Beneath Vaux & Mould carvings,

a most puzzling version,

enough for me to wish

that time could bend, just once, a little longer for us, 

so we may squeeze just five hundred more kisses in this one minute

.

three years passed like fog

and the angel of waters shiver love here

my funny baby, we stood for a while,

looking out to the water — 

       haven’t we done this before?

and you were there, the same icy glaciers

and the same mouth that said my name

and this feels like a scene

from someone else’s ending

.

in the end, by the dimly lit florist

where the owners looked fondly as we kissed

like they thought we were a beginning

but nothing could be farther from it.

.

Here we say no fanfare, a silent hug

your hand in mine—a lovely familiar weight

before we turned around for good

going, and gone.

.

At Bethesda, nature came first, second, and third—

and architecture only after a while

half a world away, I have already forgotten your name, just how you feel against me—

and only grieve after a while too

.

I ask nothing of you

I know the rules and the finality, 

and my hair is not long anymore now

so I can’t tangle it to your feet, so you may stay