That We Two Are

We went out for a dinner date. The first time

since Labor Day

2007

we sat across from each other

at a table at a

restaurant.

The nights and weekends and couplings

just get away from you

just like they say they will

just as we said they wouldn't.

Looking across to my date

noticing his hairline his

skin, the way

he looks younger

under dimmed lights at a table

not laden with playdough bits

and smeared rice grains

I felt secure even though

all this time had passed

since our last rendezvous.

Secure in the knowledge

that we two are in love.

How do you sustain the spark?

Or do you just find a new match

strike it against a fresh surface

and peer out into the darkness

ascertain that someone is still there

looking back at you

feeling the same heat.

We came home and parted

though still sharing the warm light

of the same room

basking in the afterglow of our time as two

with the third on our minds

I watched as Betty no longer loved Don

and Don, in denial

is dumbstruck

Jackie loses her John

and time passes and time

keeps on blowing through the spark

Light the candle and harbor

the flame.