A Latticework of Tears

the exquisite pain of remembering (image from shutterstock.com)

I stood beside my window today,

the one through where I first saw you,

standing beneath the old wooden archway

with the white latticework

a delicate filigree of pine

carved on its broad posts.

You were young and strong,

with skin browned by the eastern sun

and eyes that promised mischief,

a smile that dared any and all,

and lightly calloused hands,

but a heart that was more so.

While I was shyness and reluctance

and ultimately, inconsequence.

I stood there until the light turned grey,

until the raindrops came and curtained the window

with a latticework of tears - 

a delicate filigree of remembered pain.

How careless of me

to have left it open.