I thought maybe I had imagined it.
Do other people do this with old loves?
Wonder what it was that drew you to that person
once. Was it real, or just a construct built
of wishes, hopes, the need to be in love.
Even desire has dimmed, though she looks
almost exactly as she did twenty years ago,
like magic. When she steps off the plane
you are happy to see her, but it is friendship
and hesitant at that. It has been so long
and there has been some pain in the middle.
Alcohol helps. Alcohol and time and oddly
it is good that she lives halfway across the world
because it means this visit is, of necessity,
a long visit. Almost three weeks turns out
to be just long enough for desire to rise again.
For sudden tears to tell you that yes, she still
has the power to stop your heart.
*****
August 1, 2011