Our Oak

OUR OAK I shall always think of it as our oak; Yours and mine. Majestic in that green haven from urban cacophony, It sheltered us in those precious moments: Discreetly deaf to our small talk, Obligingly blind to the fool I was making of myself. Did I babble? Memory has erased my every word. Yet yours are indelible; Every word, every inflection, every lilt Oh, that lilt, invading my sleepless nights. Did you feel it…the chemistry? Have you any idea what happens to your eyes when you laugh? Every cliché by every poet throughout the ages Bubbles up from a sea of startling, sparkling blue You laughed And a thousand Sunday steeples burst into song. You laughed And I knew I would love you to the grave. And then the rain stopped and I lost you forever. I stood, rooted to the spot as you walked away. The sun struggled through a threadbare patch in the cloud To light up your hair for a last, fleeting second And you were gone. How could I let you go with so much unsaid So many questions? The rain stopped….and I hadn’t even asked your name. 5th July 2020 The One That Got Away contest Sponsor - Silent One