TO HAVE AND HOLD AT LAST
This is my first poem to you.
They’ll be many more
as long as
there are seasons
to write them in.
I wanted to tie a yellow flower
around these words
but all I could find
was a brown leaf
and I lost it in the wind.
Though I am a child of the summer
I always envy the winter for its closeness.
The way young lovers crowd together
at Autumn football games
or hold hands in classroom hallways.
I always wanted to hold onto something.
Everyone does you know.
It was always my pride
that kept me cold
after midnight.
What was your obstacle
or did you have one?
I had reached for you
in beach bars
midnight cafes
and dark hotels
with cracked ceilings.
I always connected
the lines in the ceilings
to form an image
so close to your own.
I’m a better man for waiting – I guess.
God how I appreciated those cracks
and what security they must have brought me
lying there in the half dark
with my fantasy
alone.
Now
I have you
to hold onto
and I know this is real
for I have awakened with you
and touched you.
