Sometimes I wish

More bark could be torn

From that twig

Carried in your 

Little hope chest

That one representing

Our first lover’s quarrel.

You remember the one

While sitting by Isles

Discussing our future

Still innocent lovers

Falling into each other’s 

Scared and lonely eyes

We were still

            way too

             far too much in love

                     to fall apart just then

Your fingers tore 

Fragments of bark

With every silent moment

Until the wood lay bare

And alone the twig

Held new life

Like an old coat 

Thrown away

Yet I noticed it later

The twig somehow

The bark pieces

Which you’d so patiently

Stripped away

Remained in Memory.

1986