I remember

For Janet Young

I remember an album

            Father hear your children call

            Humbly at your feet we fall

            Prodigals confessing all

            We beseech thee – hear us!

I remember flowers, and photographs

            of flowers.

I remember snow, a mere half-inch,

            the third snow I’d ever seen

            each a mere half-inch

            each filled with magic, wonder

            but nothing like the third.

I remember sitting on a curb, trying

            to avoid your waiting

bus ride north

            my waiting car drive west

I remember the phone bill Ma Bell

frowned upon, demanding

immediate payment before

it was due

I remember driving north with the dog,

            leaving near midnight to drive

            five hours in the night arriving

not long before dawn to go back almost

the same way, the same time

I remember, always remember,

            the time becoming we,

            becoming us, the first valentine

            signifying what was to come.

Photograph by Vera Kratochvil via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.