When leaves wear the gaudy dress
of fall
I will be forgetting you.
I will forget how we met
And the first long kiss
You swimming naked in the quarry lake
Or in that yellow cotton dress
That pressed against thighs
And where n*****s boasted.
When buds and baby birds come forth
I will be forgetting you.
I will forget flying kites
And making love on a tenement roof.
Your laughter coming in bright ribbons
And your head on my shoulder
While many a dream searched
For someone like you to happen in.
When heat waves dance on country roads
I will be forgetting you.
I will forget picking straw from your hair
After making love beneath a witness sun.
I will forget your funny accent
And silly questions about loving you.
Summer will be a season of forgetting
Just as will be every summer.
When ice daggers decorate my
window
And my candida world holds me captive
I will be forgetting you.
You at the slopes of Livigno
And fired brandies before the hearth
I will forget you warming your feet against mine
Pulling my arm around you
And asking if I will always remember.