The Fullness of Time
Feb 13 2011


What will become
of high school sweethearts
in the heat of summer?
In the torpid sun
when parasitic insects buzz.
When rivals blossom
fruit ripens, then drops,
free-for-the-picking.
All too brief, in its luscious peak.

When the honeymoon of adolescence
ends?
When the sweethearts depart for college
and re-invent themselves?
When life eventually commences
with a succession of jobs, new friends
the next 0ne-true-love?
At high school reunions
which neither attends?
When one leaves town,
and a marriage ends?

And when, unexpectedly, they meet again
by intention, or chance
or act of God?

If you are romantically inclined
you already know the ending.
And if you believe in destiny
there can be no doubt.
Me, I’m not sure how it comes out.

Hair thins, bodies soften, idealism grows dim.
And to re-visit
the younger version of himself
in middling middle age
puts everything at risk,
the self-sustaining illusions
of memory.
But by now
after so many opportunities have been missed
can he let her go, again?

The high school lovers.
The heat of summer.
The fruit, still luscious
in the fullness of time.