Your Old Lost Loves

your old lost loves

for I have left
the same handsome men
standing in photos
with that girl
from my past
seeing them grow younger
leaner, taller
each year
hearing their deep
fine words
in the rustle
of each fall's leaves

together
barefoot
we walk
country roads
ankle deep in mud
I turn to you
young laughing ghost
hubba hubba
never quite matching
your daring
ooh la la
I need those memories
fourteen kids
and no papa

some lovers I know
in stories
some by heart
for I stand
just as you did
on the same lake shore
watching darkness come
suns setting in unison
casting long shadows
one after another
across the years

old lost loves
you and I
clasping identical dark hands
smelling of clay and damp pine
hearing again
song of owl and loon
endless and lonesome
lingering night sounds
bouncing
echoing forever
back and forth across
a single lake
called time


Kimberly Blaeser