The memory of a smile long gone <br />returns to warm me on <br />this windy March morning <br />and in it’s swirling song <br />the happy counterpoint <br />of gentle laughter <br /> <br />For we were children of <br />this quartered moon <br />hip joined in childhood’s <br />joyful wanderings. <br />Rascal partners upon <br />a rocky mischief trail <br /> <br />We were the young immortals <br />unbreakable in space or time <br />given wings to fly <br />across the skies of youth <br />small lords of the domains <br />without a far horizon <br /> <br />Yet the Gods and Nature <br />conspired against us <br />and in one dark night you <br />and your smile became <br />a legacy, to be fixed <br />within the amber of my mind. <br /> <br />I watched the sad tapestry of <br />your earthly leaving <br />with unbelieving eyes <br />for I was sure you would return <br />as we had always done before <br />tired contrite and hungry. <br /> <br />Another March wind blew <br />before my hope and expectation <br />grew into the certainty of death <br />the black stone was not <br />your hiding place, I knew now <br />you would not come, you could not come <br /> <br />Never does the March wind blow <br />That your smile shines through <br />my minds amber once more <br />Yet their is no sadness in it <br />only the glow of childhood’s joy <br />for in our time we knew no other <br />nor could we have, nor should we have,<br /><br />Bill Mitton<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-memory-of-a-smile/
