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Notes About The Poem

Image of Mike Thacker and poetess taken spring 1968, Garland, Texas

Poem written in tribute to my first ‘love, the one who got away,’ Mike (Tiller Fultz Thacker III) September 28, 1952-January 6, 1993; the full story can be read at poetrysoup.com/short_stories/chasing_sunsets_13593

poem submitted to "A Time for Us" poetry contest, JCB Brul, sponsor, February 3, 2026

CHASING VERMILLION SKIES

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We stole bicycles and the last of July,  
pedals spinning like runaway clocks,  
our laughter louder than the fading light.  

You swore we’d catch it~  
that molten drip of sun,  
the horizon’s lazy blink.  

So we raced, tires kicking up dust,  
your hand a fleeting warmth  
as you pointed ahead~  
There, just over there!  

But the vermillion sky, unimpressed,  
slipped into indigo,  
and we collapsed in the tall grass,  
out of breath, still reaching,
still wondering.  

Alas, dear Mike, circumstance and
the vermillion sky took you away,
and I never got a chance to say,
I loved you then
and love you even to this day.

12th gradelost lovelovefree verse

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