Romance
Early in the spring of nineteen-seventy,We traveled to a friend’s family retreatWhere we planned to watch the solar eclipse. Secluded and quiet, the cabin nestledBy a lake which would serve as our mirrorFor the cosmic spectacle about to open.
You and I were just getting comfortableWith the idea of living together.Your recoil from your sister’s travailsHad convinced you virginity was a con,And I, you could see, was helplessly in love.
We lay on the blanket caressing each other,Dozing a little in the noon-time warmth.
Then the silence. I’ll always hear it.
Suddenly life made no sound. Instead of upThe curtain came down. Noon turned into night.
We trembled, as if the last pair on earth,And, our heads down, we looked out to the lakeWhere we saw reflections of shimmering orbs Tentatively kiss in eerie blacknessUntil, intimate, the moon consoled the sun,A pause in the anguish of the show going on,Which otherwise will not stop, but open and close,No matter what players like us may do,Until light and dark end their romance.
You and I were just getting comfortableWith the idea of living together.Your recoil from your sister’s travailsHad convinced you virginity was a con,And I, you could see, was helplessly in love.
We lay on the blanket caressing each other,Dozing a little in the noon-time warmth.
Then the silence. I’ll always hear it.
Suddenly life made no sound. Instead of upThe curtain came down. Noon turned into night.
We trembled, as if the last pair on earth,And, our heads down, we looked out to the lakeWhere we saw reflections of shimmering orbs Tentatively kiss in eerie blacknessUntil, intimate, the moon consoled the sun,A pause in the anguish of the show going on,Which otherwise will not stop, but open and close,No matter what players like us may do,Until light and dark end their romance.
