.

Together

The windows of our dawning day
_Let light in through the dew,
But outdoors ambling in cool air,
_I knew that I’d find you.

Close comfort, venturing apart,
_We played our separate games,
Dreaming the dreams that draw each heart
_Toward unacknowledged aims.

I sailed too soon, no longer home
_To go on side by side;
Rarely you came to mind, Jerome,
_Though I felt satisfied.

Allied, aligned as with no other,
_We always reconnected,
But fellowship fell short, my brother;
_Real friendship we neglected.

We wasted opportunities,
_Adrift without a fight;
Imagined earth’s eternities
_Might cure the oversight.

They could have, for you made the move
_When dimmer years had passed,
That gave us twenty to improve
_In pristine vistas vast.

The wonder of living fidelity
_Accompanied holidays;
The wonder of sudden mortality
_Rolled in as breathless haze.

Why speak of mourning, tell how long
_Regret proceeds to pray?
These lips can sing a soothing song,
_Making the best of a day.

.

.

Margaret Coats lives in California.  She holds a Ph.D. in English and American Literature and Language from Harvard University.  She has retired from a career of teaching literature, languages, and writing that included considerable work in homeschooling for her own family and others.


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One Response

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson

    Margaret, this one surprised me with your simple heartfelt homilies emanating from your soul. It was almost like a song that I could sing along. How wonderfully framed was each verse describing your relationship with a person from your childhood from whom you grew apart going separate ways yet always was with you in a sense in your mind and especially on holidays. We all must set aside regrets as you did in your poem and in our case humming a song or listening to oldies as I do on the radio soothes us in the end. This has to be one of your best poems despite all the masterful ones you have crafted.

    Reply

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