I remember how you could step
From sun to shadow
And it was like moving from spring
Back to a winter that wouldn’t die

She looked at the sky and scornfully asked me
What colors I saw
Half-facetiously I said blue and white
And oh yeah, the yellow sun over there

She said, that’s your problem, you know
You can’t see light, the rainbows,
The myriad of colors all around

You see things through such a narrow prism
Which means you don’t see things at all

I might have demurred and told her
I saw far more than she ever knew;
That the first sign of frayed fabric
Or broken love was the realization
That the whole was just the sum
Of its tattering parts

Ah, to know a thing and still feel
The pull of a heart that wants to cling
To foundering wreckage;
That won’t let go;
That looks through that narrow prism and
Sees only her swimming in the gray and restless sea

To believe, as I did, that she launched all boats
And made the sun shine and brought the spring.
That love’s flaws and blemishes could be erased
By the magic cream of Supplication and a steady dose
Of Fawn

You fool, I scolded me
Vowing April would be the month
Where my brain became unfrozen
And my heart became a lion
And my feet grew wings

Knowing I’d be lying then
And saying the same about May.

She forgot her rant soon enough
And I took no offense;
We both noticed when the sun
Dipped behind the clouds

Because it was March,
The shadows got deep and blue
And the wind was cold and high.

When she shuddered reflexively
I draped a coat over her trembling shoulders
And she was grateful enough
To permit me a few more sunshines
Before she let fall the final rain.

03/10/2015

Posted on 03/10/2015
Copyright © 2024 Ken Harnisch