Hold fast
to remnants—to words

when the artist grips your arm and says
I think I love you

before disappearing again
into that other life

don’t consider yet all the things
that will come between you

so that years from now
whenever you get the closed-in feeling

you can pull out the photo from the boardwalk
that rainy day at the beach

see the wedding ring on his finger
study the stricken look on his face

as if he knows something precious
is slipping through his hands

Diana Donovan

 

Diana Donovan is a freelance writer and marketing consultant based in Northern California. A graduate of Brown University, she was recently featured in Quiet Lightning, a reading series in San Francisco.

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