ONE YEAR

From a Bench at Spring Farm

I realized, through it all, that in the midst of winter,

I found there was, within me, an invincible summer.

― Albert Camus

One year

is not nearly enough

for the skin to grow over

the ragged gash in your heart,

and one lifetime

will never mute the whoosh

of blood seeping across the breach

every pulsing second, that unrelenting

reminder of a day

that needs no reminders

on a crisp and sunny fall afternoon

twelve months later, alone on a cedar bench

in a golden red meadow

when you feel a tender duet

of love and sorrow beating time 

beneath your ribs, echoing off distant mountains

     –SL, 28 October 2024, New Paltz, NY