LOVE LOST

A summer’s end ago
I lay smiling at the sun
in a field of green
waist-high wild grass,
as you held me
in your arms.

Then running, falling
as we grabbed
at butterflies and ladybugs,
not for capture but for fun,
then loosed each one
in curious wonder.

Later wading, splashing
an ice-cold creek
as water droplets
tickled down our faces,
drying faster in the sun
than we would have liked.

And sometime after
came a new moon’s
golden glow
smiling at us,
as we lay sleeping
in each other’s arms.

But when the storms
washed over us,
in darkness you were gone,
those flood waters
swallowed up our field
and carried you away.

And though the sun
has long returned,
in me the darkness lives,
where I hold back
a flood of tears,
and relive what used to be.