Pagosa Springs Artists

Embers (version I)

It must be law or politics that makes you so animated
as you converse with an old friend, leaning casually
against the gleaming buffet carrying its load of hors
d'oeuvres, your lanky form slim as ever, dark trousers
draping elegantly. I can't help but admire your profile,
that modestly jutting chin and aquiline nose surrounded
by the fuller face of late middle age. Now, thinning
dun-colored hair softens your freckled leathery face,
more handsome than ever,

than in our youth when I was unabashedly hungry
for your lean body, when we spent many a Sunday
afternoon making slow sweet love on the coverlet
of the double bed in our tiny Chicago apartment.
When you couldn't get enough of loving me. My

desire for you has slowed to admiration. I wonder
if you ever pause to look fondly at me and still see
your petite bride beneath her saggy chin and thicker
waist? Ever secretly admire my wrinkle-free face,
lively faith, my serenity?

 

first published in Saint Davids Christian Writers Conference Awards

©2009 Bonnie Manion

   

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