Still Cold Under The Coat

Still Cold Under The Coat

Oh’ my love,

how I must have changed

since we last

     failed and so conspicuously ..

You never

faltered though or paused

nor turned

around for a final backward

      glance did you ..

Oh’ and neither did you drop

either of those

elegant gloves of yours as we

passed between

well-thumbed aisles of a once

famous, but now

long since closed secondhand

   book store ..

I know that for sure, because

I double checked

and again, the next day too ..

Despite it then

 being spring and temperatures

 hell bent on

climbing I do still seem to recall

a distinct chill in

  the air, on the day in question ..

Indeed, it was

the moment when the hem of

your dress

    brushed soft, against my knee ..

Yes, it was precisely

then I promised myself one more

    beard before winter ..

  Okay, you may well now laugh ..

But I did seriously

consider taking up walking with

my old mandolin,

   or a meerschaum pipe perhaps ..

Maybe then you

would have noticed, although

I trusted myself less

with you those days, than I did

with nicotine

   which took some quitting too ..

I have kept my old

green corduroy coat by the way

but only ever wear

it now in the garden and on very

special occasions

because you liked it and because

   it still smells of you ..

At least I think it’s you, it could be

   no one else for sure ..

Oh my love, how we have both

changed ever since

    our joint failing and so completely ..