read a poem

Seventeen blank shots
five each for birth and death,
wedding gets seven.

~~~~~

Wrestling or scuffling
quite intimate dual,
an earthly comfort.

~~~~~

An accomplishment
grows ten hands in a body
pays to two only.

Did we find answers there? Across
The square they walked in groups, twos, threes.
You watched, trying to recall a lesson,
The Latin I had traced with a fingertip.
A lesson common to them all.

The air was green, and the jasmine had turned,
The smell sickly yellow.
Delicate. No-one could bear it,
But you, who made an afternoon bloom, and
Flushed me out from my study. For all time.
Caught me, like a child, with remembrance.
With voices from your past, breaking my peace,
And deserting me. My love.
You wore your crown of bays and recalled the lesson.
And my place was shattered.

I think we found our answers there. In a place,
That you could break and tear.
Until all that was left was me.
Did you still come willingly?