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picnic
by Amos Last
i knew one day
we would never want to be this old
this way
this far apart
back before
when we would climb a ladder
up to the corner of the roof
up the shingles of the valley
to the ridge
i carried lawn chairs
and you brought a tray
dinner and a glass or two for our picnic
balanced at the top
déjeuner sur l’air
our neighbours would wave
and we would smile back
happy to have all this beyond
we surveyed the land below
and the water
all the sailing boats
having their evening fun
and the freighters rusting in the sun
it was good
those days
we had the whole world before us
and now we are here (and there)
the world still before us
this time in words of our day
in different places we both know
so different than before
tonight i am on the roof
with you
in my memory
with the sun on our skin
we are young of course
riding the future again
01/31/2014 Posted on 01/31/2014
Copyright © 2025 Amos Last
| Member Comments on this Poem |
| Posted by Kristina Woodhill on 01/31/14 at 08:08 PM I've been enjoying the structure of your poems. I like the scene you create in stanza 2, the looking back and the world viewed from up there, a strong memory in spite of the contrasts of the now. |
| Posted by Quentin S Clingerman on 02/01/14 at 05:08 PM Refreshingly different in form, picturesque, nostalgic. Lovely read. |
| Posted by Laura Doom on 02/02/14 at 12:20 PM Quintessence of quiescence, short of submission to melancholy.
'the world still before us'--or, how to propagate inferences... |
| Posted by Rob Littler on 02/04/14 at 06:11 AM time is now and not now, there is no past or future, only the ebb and the flow...it's why we go to the roof in the first place...only we are luck you speak for the valleys, and the experience...that you notice the things that make up the periphery, comforting in a depth of sight. |
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