looking for something in the sunday paper

i flipped by accident to local weddings

yet missed the photograph until i saw
your name among the headings

and there you were, looking almost unchanged

your hair still long, though now long out of style

and you still wore that stiff, ironic look...
the one that was your smile

i felt as though we sat there face to face

my stomach tightened

i read the item through

it said too much about both families...
too little about you

finished at last, i put the paper down

i remembered old feelings,
my mind aflame—
wondering -

who is this man ?
this stranger whom you loved...
this printed name

and yet i clipped it out to put away...
inside a book like something i might use

a scrap i knew i wouldn’t read again,
but couldn’t bear to lose