Where were you?

Where were you when the night caught fire,

and the stars shredded silver filings on the blazing wind?

Why did my hand catch at empty air

and loose feathers, museum-dull,

instead of the comet’s tail?

I think I saw you sauntering by the river,

whistling low a tune we used to share,

your hands full of moonbeams

to offer to someone else.

Where did it go, the cool, green love,

Slip-sliding through sun-slanting beams of summer?

Did it follow the last of the geese fleeing the ice floes

Or sink, a trunk of treasure trove, beneath cold waves?

Beyond the lament, the final hissing sparks,

of falling fireworks,

I thought I heard a blackbird sing,

Or perhaps it was the fading strings

of a romantic film,

the flickering screen I cannot see

through this veil of tears.

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