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By Linda Goodman Submitted by Misti Date: 2002 Apr 27 Comment on this Work [[2002.04.27.19.37.8280]] |
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When I think of you I don't need the crutch of cigarettes or coffee to face the morning When I remember you I scold the dogs more gently if they climb upon my bed against the rules Because of you I buy a bunch of violets every Tuesday when they're in season and bring them home, and keep them till they wither for no particular reason except that once I saw them sleeping near a bristlecone pine in Cripple Creek, Colorado Since knowing you I haven't felt it necessary to win each game of chess I play I notice lonely people more on holidays-like Christmas place fewer ornaments upon the tree I like things naked even me I'm more compassionate and patient with fools who bore me even with the ones who ignore me I take long walks and yesterday I bought some colored chalks to try to make a picture of a child Yet, I can't find any mention of this magic in the songs of Solomon the sonnets of Shakespeare Montaigne's essays or Walter Benton's poems They wrote of friends or lovers who come together now and then We haven't said hello since August or was it June? that rainy evening- or was it late afternoon? We cannot call this love How could it be when we've never touched each other and perhaps we never will when we have only come as close as resting elbows on a sill and looking through the windows of an empty house listening to the droning buzz of bees kissing tangled clouds of baby's breath and blue forget-me-nots growing near a broken picket fence as children do, in enchanted gardens they half believe are haunted Nor can we call this friendship Friends share tragedies and joy by telephone or letter Our last communication was a postcard in July Why, one of us could even die without the other knowing in time to send some flowers to the church or light a candle at a distance It's like you told me once if we never saw each other again it wouldn't make any difference you didn't say it wouldn't matter you said it wouldn't make any difference and did you know I understood the nuance? It was so long ago but, did you know? |