Other Loves

First Kiss

You looked on me with dark, wet eyes,

Fear and longing in their wide alarm,

Me, smiling as I pulled you tight

Beneath a canopy of beech and oak.

I let the lazy seconds hang,

An encore to our gentle wander,

Where you had laughed and shared the names

The flowers bore and I had plain forgot.

We held each other, close and warm,

Hearts thumping as our lips pressed tight,

You, thoughts scattering like frightened birds,

A first kiss stolen in the falling rain.

September 2019, for H.