It is eight years now,

It is eight years now,

Two leap years

When you could have asked me

Had you wanted to.

I asked you

Twice

The first time

In a service station

On the M1

You dared me to do it,

Believing I wouldn’t

I surprised myself

We have laughed about it, since.

I never minded the teasing

Whatever you might think

I know

It came from a good place

A big heart

That bestowed its gifts

Freely

Without thought of consequence

Lord knows how many loans

I took out

The foreclosures

The houses we sold

To get by

Starting again

With a clean slate.

A new beginning

Is like a spring morning

When April is less than brutal.

Until the next time

We faced the tallyman

With a pure heart

And a penchant for a belief

In the goodness of man,

It wasn’t always apparent,

But we survived

To give it all away again.

The second time

We were wed

You were in bed

I kissed you

You kissed me back

It was a good day

You were tired

And needed

Help from a friend

With your make-up

It wasn’t really you

Too heavily done

You were the painter

Not the painted.

But your features were always fine

Even when haunted

And you carried it off

Rolling your eyes

Seeing the joke

In heartbreak.

Even at the end, it was a renewal.

It is eight years now

I wonder if you knew

I was sleeping,

Is that why you left

When you did?

With cold skin

Your blood stilled,

Mine Barely warm

In all these years,

It is eight now

And I’m still counting.