Valentine, Undelivered

[ Valentine, Undelivered ]
....................................(for L)

Dear formally so lively
.......................... now a ghost town,

I'm passing out in the flower garden.
I close my eyes and greet the weeds I imagine
growing over you. No doubt this seems familiar-
tropical--a forgettable offense. The sun-
flowers bent and swayed around the path.
The rest of the garden was rendered successfully.
In the winter when the bodies are mounded
with snow, the crows kept vigil.
And now there's something hoping to happen
in the middle of being lost
in the wandering flora, so the grocery list
you penned in haste becomes my holy relic.
A body may extend. And you may rise. You may
penetrate the skin of air forgetting not
these days everyone wants
strange fits of passion. Forgive me,
I have to close my eyes. The clover of your iris.
The white paper, bound with twine.
How did I get here
with the tall grass rising underneath.
I leave with mouths full of dirt
after the day ends. In the distance,
it can be heard across the river
how far we are from kissing.
* * * * *