I, for many years

Gleaned hope

From the glitter

In the backs

Of your eyes

I wrapped your joy

Around the insides

Of my wrists

And pioneered my way

Through life

With books and shovels,

With tears and shooting stars,

With your tiny fingers

Tugging on the hem

Of my favorite dress

 

I was

Parked alone

On the hallway floor

Folding your jeans neatly

By the outside curve

Of my left knee

When my head

Let the sting drop

In

To sear through me

Like a river

Of

Misspent prosperity

 

I had lost

You

To some mad chase

A pair of dreams seceded,

A parting of disjointed souls

Both

Snagging on the core

Of a haggard old tree

Swaying in the winds

Of what was never to be

 

My faith shacked up

With a younger girl

And

Your silly little hands

Were not the hands I remembered;

But the map of man

I pushed out

Into the world

A little before,

Not your time,

But

My

Own