OF YOU, IN MEMORY

Of you, in memory, I dream
summer days that did not end -
the coo of doves at daybreak,
blue sky over your shoulder,
your dark eyes looking down; a smile,
my heart open wide with wonder.
My summer of love
had arrived.

Of you, in memory, I sing
the song of a distant heart
that dared not open,
from whom I unwillingly
but inevitably had to part.

ploughing the garden under,
along with all my hopes

Of you, in memory, I recall
the coo of doves at daybreak,
how you opened
the door of the cage
and out she (we) flew.

No answer is an answer
to the questions of the heart

Of you, in memory, I sing
every time I hear
the dove’s soft coo.

we ploughed the garden under,
along with all my hopes

Of you, in memory, I wonder,
sifting through all
I have come to know today:
what would have happened
had I been brave enough
and whole enough
to stay?

But no answer was your answer
to the questions of my heart
and so unwillingly but inevitably,
the time came for us to part.

A fugue poem for Rommy's prompt at Toads: to write differently from our usual style. I find most forms difficult, so chose a fugue as have never written one before. A fugue, like the fugue in music, repeats a refrain or a theme throughout the poem.

Only one year, and one summer of love this lifetime. Too short. But fourteen years of love with Pup more than made up for it.