main-f0fe47502643bfa3cd01e1536fd2ba8514666262Nine told me
love was chasing and pinching
love was not, little boys grabbing fleshy parts
love was sharing the last Xmas chocolate
and wiping the stains with the corner of your cardigan
Sixteen told me
love was chasing and pinching
love was not, young men grabbing fleshy parts
love was found beneath eider down
finding out the workings of bodies yet grown
and the tender string of hearts unaware of how
deep their timber could sound
Twenty five told me
love was chasing and pinching
love was not, shorn-haired women in bars, grabbing fleshy parts
love was discovered in the shape of a woman’s mouth
how it resembled the moon covered over with darkness
culminating in a smile that stole
the very backbone of words
Forty told me
love was chasing and pinching
love was not, middle-aged men in Starbucks, grabbing fleshy parts
love was molded from piano keys played in harmony
as day slowed and sky swept with wonder
overhead us while walking hand in hand
ruby leaves crunching underfoot
Sixty told me
love is remembering being chased and pinched
love is not, the disregard of all the years before
but a remembrance of each step taken
love is the emptiness of a house without you, watching for return
love is the gentle dent of your body as it lies
ever long against me
always a little empty without
our full heart