Always elected.
Washed 'til torn.
Had the line loved best.
Worn in rest, at play.
But now its dated,
It's too tight.
Tagline no longer fits.
Time to remove
and toss away.
Favorites are outgrown.
Replaced by new bests.
Time frays even favorites.

Make room.
Rain or shine.
A happening to share.
No RSVP.
Just a notion.
Day into night.
Drunk with music.
Green grass under foot.
Beverage toted by pickup.
Fellowship,
Maybe romance.
Sleep it all off.
Portable party.
Ease of youth.
Angels dancing.
Demons spinning.
Life living.

Not always known.
Sometimes clear as glass.
Deep blues and green of life.
Sometimes smeared with use.
Prismed by experience.
Just one part of many.
Shattered by loss.
Healed with hope and love.

Ice Cream and sneaky kisses;
Fancy lunch in the vineyard;
Hearings from noon to eight;
Crying baby and unwritten brief;
Two crying babies and papers to file;
School parties and custody battle;
Dance competition and E.D. hearing;
Order of the Arrow and bar meeting;
Graduation and a glass of wine;
College and a phone call;
Medical school and a poem.
Grandkids and ice cream.

Expected, but not now.
Ceremony done.
Trying to make myself
Comfortable and
Trying to ease myself
Into Alone.
In my dreams, we visit.
It is so easy to talk.
Heaven as close as a nap.
Feeling your touch
As I sleep.
Your hand on my back.
Alone as I wake.
I wish I had not rushed
to leave your side.

Step up.
Don't step aside.
Don't surrender self.
Don't shake with fear.
Be sturdy.
Be sure.
Reach for the next.

Rainy afternoon.
Umbrellas and puddles,
Wet dogs shaking.
Truth of time.
Saw you inside
Crowded metal diner.
Ducked inside
Busy cook filling orders
You poured over
coffee and text book.
With wet hair.
I sunk beneath the depth
of infatuation.
Recovered myself pushing
By the tip of my closed umbrella
to your side.
Dry toast on a wet day.
No notice, no play.
"Just the check please."
Better weather tomorrow.
Today just a glance.
Two wet shoulders with little notice.