68 Years Having Passed

I’ve heard it said

first true love is

love never to be

forgotten

If this be the case

though sixty-eight

years having passed

I then am living

testament insomuch

as not a day has passed

where my mind

has not imaged

no matter how swift

the thought

not a day has passed

without the remembrance

of the girl

then sixteen

that so entwined the

heart of this boy

then seventeen

Siixty-eight years of absence

I know

changes the sound

and sight of even one so

dearly loved that

I and the lady in line

oh, a year or two younger

than me

speak of the

headline of a gossip rag

and both laugh at the

absurdity

as who really

cares of the ridiculous

antics of this or of any

out of touch celebrity?

I and the lady in line have a

friendly comical conversation

then she pays what is due

and the lady and I say our

goodbyes and with not a

backward glance

the cart she holds wheels

from out the store and I

and the lady part

more than likely

for ever more

A year or two younger,

the departing lady brings

thought of the one that

had never left my mind

and though I know

the lady in line

is not the girl from out my past

the lady in line

could not be the girl from out my

past

Yet

Yet in truth

the lady in line could be the girl

from out my past as she

then sixteen

and me

then seventeen

as now

sixty-eight years having passed

how would I know her face

How would she know my face

The lady in line

 The old lady in line

could be the girl

from out the past

The lady in line

the old lady in line

could be the girl

from out the past

when she

then sixteen

and me

then seventeen

this lady in line

could be the girl

from out the past

The lady in line

As she would not know my face

as I would not know her face

this lady in line could be the girl

this now old man has never forgotten

The lady in line

this old lady in line

could be the girl

this now old man has never forgotten

This old lady in line

could be the girl

this now old man has always loved.

©Septrmber 4,2020 

Mark M. Lichterman