We should have avoided the cracks in the sidewalk
for the sake of our mothers backs
we should have cut ourselves off at 4 drinks
left room for dessert
and told you everything
a little bit sooner
we should have taken more pictures
not of the sky or the food
the playbill or the marquee
but of your hands, and your knees, your calves streaked with sand, back burnt from sun brow wet with sweat fly away early greys
you are so hard for someone made of such soft things
we should have taken more pictures
of the sun on your pretty face
of the dirt collecting in your fingernails
your ears twisted towards the unknown sound
and not just every time we were in the clean water
but in the muk together