Wasted Modern Romantic Lyric
by Pat Hise

We took the car, some beer,
My hope and your worry
Over and uneven but
Well worn gravel trail
To the edge of the night
And the shore of a man made lake.
There we backed the car
So the hatch opened to the water,
Hoping to close our minds
To the world you brought with us.

Only Keats could give life
To the image of that night,
To the veil of moon-spun silk
That challenged the stars
And draped dim shadows
Where there should have been none.
Only the night could order up
Such wattage from a half moon
Or send little fellows to flash neon
In the brush or my hair,
Delighting you and giving me
A topic to break the silences.
A cool breath on the lake
Wrinkled lights on the water
That told of definite places
On the distant, shapeless shore
While laughter and sentences drifted
From fishers under the bridge.

We spent our words
On the lightning bugs
And Yeats and absolute beauty,
Without taxing hope or worry
With talk of the love
I brought with us,
And when our embraces warmed
Too well our night cooled arms,
You patted passion aside
Like a petulant child
Off to her bed alone
And gave me credit
For the proper setting
If not the time for your fall,
As if I had conjured a night
No mortal could ever devise.

Unscathed, you steered the car
Up the pot holed path
To even, divided pavement,
And the persistent moon followed
To spread a milk white film
Over the face of the lake
As we crossed the dam and left
The night to the fireflies
And the hope to the fishers.
Our unopened beers sloshed
In the styrofoam crate
Squeaking beneath the hatch
While I fumbled with tapes
And half hearted chuckles
In the cover of dark,
Already grieving endless tomorrows
Undone by the assumption
You gave life to
With a single breath
Of that perfect night.

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Wasted Modern Romantic Lyric by Pat Hise

Wasted Modern Romantic Lyric
by Pat Hise