poem –

“If man were never to fade away like the dews of Adashino, never to vanish like the smoke over Toribeyama, but lingered on forever in the world, how things would lose their power to move us! The most precious thing in life is its uncertainty.”— Yoshida Kenko, Essays in Idleness

 

I think,

when we first met,

the decade was moving towards something

 

You were with me at a house party in a suburb,

at the cusp of growing up,

barely scraping by

 

Making drinks under the soft glow of kitchen light,

as electric beats moved through the texture of our space

 

We moved on the dance floor,

before the cops came,

and we ran out laughing through the back door

 

You were with me

driving on the freeway in the dusk light,

on our way to the cheap theater,

to watch our nightmares became our friends.

 

You were with me that crazy morning,

at The Pantry in Downtown,

when we drove to Santa Monica to watch the sun rise

 

You were there,

disappearing with me,

through the streets of the city

 

As time passes

I wonder

if I’ll lose the light that adds depth to the pictures in the chambers of my mind

 

That one day those visions will deteriorate,

and I will forget the small exchanges that

we had on nights when we were a little more free