General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

LEST I FORGET


I cannot remember
what they want me to remember.
So I pass off all the flags-
the badged berets and the
sad red flower.

That said,
I respect the dead.
But she has given me this hour;
mixing it with her tonight
the things I thought had passed.
And she will bake for me a cake,
in a heartbeat
if I ask.

I will watch her
as she bakes it:
with the flour, fruit
and salt;
the warm oven aroma
evoking memories
I'd forgot.

And I will taste the forbidden fruit
in this room where we first met.
Taking time to drink the sacred wine
lest I forget....

...and then gently press a lily flower
and place it in a book...
to give to this tender soul
this beauty I once
forsook.


- - - - -


THIS NOVEMBER


This November,
they said,
we will trip the light fandango
in a promise made
long ago.

When the world ended
on new years's eve.
And,
in the flutter of an eyelid,
made a fool of what
we did.

This November,
there is no such deceit.
Waking before first light-
listening by the barred front door-
wishing it was the way it was,
before...


Jarvo 2020