A whisper over the shoulder,
the glancing wave of your hair just
out of sight as I turn to chase
summer shadows across the asphalt.
A memory lingering
in some resonating ache, a hollowness
I felt through the wholeness of my body.
Your face, freckled and smiling,
as if nothing in the last 15 years ever happened.
We are right back in that place,
those first months when everything
was new, the money was steady, our chosen
delicacies in ready supply, love and
wild adventure burning, my words
finding their place, the anticipation of
something thrilling just ahead.

I choose to forget what I know of reality.
I choose to ignore the restless worry
unsettling itself in my stomach, I suppress the notion
that this isn’t real, that this is not how it happened.
I would rather stay here
in this illusion, to see what happens next,
but by the time I can rationalize
my choice, my mind has become aware
of its enchantment.