A Moment’s Love

My prompt for this poem was to include the words yellow, lemon, and sunny. The ingredients for a happy, joyful poem, surely? But my mind doesn’t work that way, and this is what I came up with . . .

A Moment’s Love

Six weeks, four days;
that’s how long since we
spoke
touched
loved.

I wander the length and breadth
of our house,
searching for a clue;
that hidden word,
that out-of-reach memory
that will tell me
why this happened.

Outside, the boot-sized weight of
your loss
stomps on my chest,
and crushes my resolve.
The sycamore-lined street
is awash with yellow reminders
tied around each bark—
lemon ribbons fluttering in the breeze,
mirroring my heart’s own beat,
slapping your loss across my face
and leaving fresh marks for all to see.

Six weeks, four days
since you last kissed my lips,
and I pushed you away, running late,
with no idea it would be the last time we
connected.

Your picture no longer accompanies
the ribbons tied in memory,
we found you too late
and discovered your fate,
and I think someone knew it would be
too much
for me to see your face every day
(like that doesn’t happen anyway!)
but the sunny tatters flowing in the wind
remain, and it fills my crumpled heart with
a moment’s love.