Old Flame

Unexpectedly, I heard she was still alive. She had been living (as a flame), in a room I had made for her in my mind. I had kept her there tucked away, sedated and forever young. Now I hear she is alive, though a little arthritic, and living in Sussex with four cats. Of course, the affair must now cease. The fantasy cauterized, her body heat squeezed out of my bloodstream like a spicy toothpaste. I should hate for her to see me as I am now besides my own youth has become a ghost to me, but perhaps just one more time I will enter that secret place where I know she waits for me, still smiling seductively.