lady of the lace

what are the odds

encountering you

at this gas station

miles from everywhere

and years of grace

i'm as you see

contained

losing all those victories

cleanses the lenses

so to speak

thank you

for this embrace of memory

the gifts and sudden cliffs of you

your smile

which i see is darker red

don't pout

your spirit wears it well

and i'm grown old beyond repair

no sense of pretty speech

i wish you well

again...

Reviews

[emmajoy]

Tis said that co-incidences are meant to happen just to see if one has a steady hand and the ability to keep one's hat on! Amazing how much you noticed in those few minutes at the garage. Was as if you were peeling back the past to make sure it was.. mutual recognition.. no more or less. Age does indeed wither us, more or less - or it the other way around, Sir Hart? You write clues, create teasing roundabout phrases to make your reader's go think a while..

Think I will - yet again. :)

[Beccy]

Seems more and more to me now I've passed the forty mark, (29th of last month,) that perhaps the odds are preordained and that sometimes, as it has here, the dice do fall in our favour.

Beccy.

[Ed Hart]

we call them odds (to give them a name), but that's just because we can't see the trees for the forest

[Ed Hart]

and, as for preordainance, i perceive the universe as absolutely organic, and always in balance...and i like to add, someone is always coming around the corner...

[Ken Simm.]

A meeting of words, of individuals and of memories. This I love.

[Ed Hart]

hi Ken...thanks for stopping by...i know you can taste the truth of it...

[Lori Brown Boniciolli]

Beautiful! Love the phrase ..."sudden cliffs of your smile", and again your word choices. Nice flow...

Lori

[Ed Hart]

thanks Lori...haven't seen you much about lately, but then, the same is true for me

[...]

Makes you glad you're still alive when you realize some things just weren't meant to happen...for the better, coulda been worse. You coulda been kissing the "darker red"

[Ed Hart]

except for bouts of grace, there have been no easy-earned lessons...darker red, indeed...thanks for stopping by lynn

[1VJ]

You say "Stop" and I say "Go, go, go". I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello. Or vice versa. :)

[Ed Hart]

clever girl

[TempleOfNothing]

This was extremely humbling to read. Very well use of wording, and very nice mental pictures you've portrayed. It reminds me of an older friend I have, seeming something he would say or write. I was reminded of good memories while reading this, so thank you.

[Ed Hart]

thank you for stopping by, and your warm thoughts

[barleygirl]

The spirit of this chance meeting is very clear & powerfully stated . . . glad to see ya again, but don't even TRY to get inside my head again. I love the way you say all this without really saying it. You SHOW, instead of telling (the strongest way to write poetry, of course). This is crazy well-crafted line: "cleanses the lenses" as well as this one: "the gifts and sudden cliffs of you" -- such delicious subdued subtlety, but also very clear & poignant what this means. Your smile being a darker red is also a brilliant way to say (possibly): I find you a little more fake (brightly painted) than before. This is a delicious putdown without lowering oneself to any base expressions. Hello, but goodbye & no thanks.

[Ed Hart]

speaking of powerfully and clear, that is how you express yourself...you would be (are) a wonderful teacher...your students would (do) pay attention, and learn how to see and to think

[barleygirl]

Thank you so much . . . it's my pleasure (((HUGS)))

[Abhra]

More often than not.. one imagines such encounters only to tell them how certain wounds are no longer open. Even though the bruise remains. It can no longer hurt. Poetry lies in what is not said. The play of spaces between the lines. You do it every single time.

[Ed Hart]

yes, it is the not saying, not for effect or affect, but because the muse part of mind uses the doorways of the heart to say things more intelligently than the common talent of the tongues or keyboards, at least for the seasoned sensibility

[Renée]

Out of all the gas stations.. and here we meet..after all these years.. I could be wrong, but I sense, one not so happy, about this unplanned meeting. mysterious

[Ed Hart]

sometimes i'ts hard to believe in co-incidence...sometimes the fates show their bizarre sense of humor

[Renée]

That it does...