"Goodnight. Goodbye."

I watched you on the trampoline.

Staying up all night was easy.

You weren’t sure I loved you, yet.

 

Everything was wet with sunrise--

That black taut tarp we kissed on,

Your long arabesque hair.

 

My two fingers were still held

Loosely in your palm. You breathed

Sleepy angel-air; a cracked gold halo

 

Spun slowly in the overhead fog.

I blinked at it, and it stopped turning.

Eyes opened on its rim, looked out,

 

Looked down at me, stared, closed--gone.

I have never been so sure.

I put a fallen maple leaf in lieu of my fingers,

 

Then watched you sleep. Locks

Of dark brown hung over your mouth,

Moved in your body’s gentle breeze.

 

I left it there. I left it all there.

When I woke up, you had placed

That dewy orange leaf on my heart.

Reviews

[ChemicalMadness]

There is much to be treasured here. The foreshadowing in the first stanza, the definitive votive (I have never been so sure), and the vaguely solemn proclamation (I left it there. I left it all there). This crackled with the electricity of first love and read with the depth of a novel (just to repeat myself ). You do not disappoint,

CM

[Ramsey]

very beautiful. i loved the word choice and all the details and the references to leaves

[Brittany Zedalis]

There is so much I adore about this poem. Your elegant word usage, the imagery, the feelings that radiate off of the words, and that perfect ending. Wonderful.

[N!LoC]

i love it when you paint a story in my mind with poetry...

[Ees]

This is really nice to read. I like poems that last through the night and I love the feeling of dew and I felt that dew very clearly as I read this poem. It was almost, but not entirely too sweet. I really enjoyed the ending, the leaf placed on your heart. That made it for me.

[Matthew Kult]

Hello Steven,

Tenderly romantic like the soft bite of a good wine on the beach while bathing in the moonlight of intimacy.

Always,

Matthew
A.

[J_Star]

I'm with Neville on this. Where the f are the reviews? Because this is gold. Especially the question introduced with the word "sure" in the first stanza, and then answered exactly as it should be four stanzas later. It's like you took the photographic rule of thirds and applied it to poetry. It's lovely.

[Steven]

Thanks J_Star.. I'm bad at sending out read requests ;)

[Neville]

What 31 views to date and no reviews!!!

I am amazed at the restraint shown by some of my silent predecessors. I think this is another work to celebrate my friend and am sure that before long many will enjoy it again and again. AGT's N