September Pond

September comes in the back door
Lazily
As if it means no harm.
The sun of early autumn
Begins its slant
Portending cool weather
Easy days.

On a September afternoon
Long ago
We lay in the grass
Near a pond
Sipping cool drinks
Eating sandwiches
And talking about all the time
We pretended to have.

By winter she was gone.

I have returned to our pond
Thinking to find some trace
Of her
Of us.
But time is an effective eraser
Rubbing away all but memory.

Many years later
When I see a pond
I remember that one.

Our pond.

How the sunlight sparkled on the water
The early cool in September’s air
The heat of her body
Beneath the light cotton dress
The taste of our kisses
And imagination of the good
Awaiting us
Just beyond the pond
And the hazy autumn clouds.

Fate is an adversary
Rending from us
What we thought in our grasp.
But love is faithful.
It never leaves
Though the object of that love
Is far away and forever gone.

I tip my brim to young lovers
Who occupy our spot in the grass
Beside the pond.

Hold one another lightly
So the inevitable parting may be
A bit less painful.

But you won’t hear me.
You will bleed
As did I
Cry
As did I .
And you, too, will return
To this lovely pond
To remember a day in early autumn
And a love that cannot fade.