When Alas Before the Fire

Let us not speak of the years behind us

The seas we sailed through before we found each other.

We need not forget them.

We need not mourn them as one does the falling tide

That gently sweeps brilliant shells off the shore

And pulls them deep into oblivion.

Let us not talk of yesterday

And everyday that came before it

Before your hand met mine

And we took on the task of weaving our fingers

Our lives into each other.

The temptation will be too strong

To pull at loose threads

And ignore the bright yarn that lies before us

Bursting to become something new.

Let us not whisper of the old days

Let us not tell our ghost stories

Around this new fire we are building

Or waste present hours on seconds from before.

We need not hide them

As children’s toys in wooden trunks

Mementos of what we loved before each other.

Instead, let your old stuffed tiger lie on the floor

In the room where I still hang my old photographs

And we will write a new song of each other

To the tunes we sang of old.