Tenderness Never Lost

You were my river, my white water rapids rushing. I recall your floating liquid eyes in my whispering vespers. You were my noblest test, but then your loss came crushing. My realization too late, I was left living among the lepers. Still, I sip your supper on my florid palate of your beguiling. I recall each day, my grieving litany of meager failures. I keep your smiling pictures and I covet our reconciling. For me, the reflection of our tender amatory still allures. Taking you for granted, I met your power to annul. I surely got my just dessert, this harsh desert in my chest. But I am alive, recalling our fresh love on a separate channel. In my delusion, we circle in dance, our bodies in sexual arrest. Of course, I know my reenactments can never bring you home. Instead, it is tenderness never lost that inspires this poem.