I had to be an optimist
happy through and through
to perpetually smile
and swing along with you
what times we had
good times, laughter bright, loud, new
remnant embers shone
with sultry amber hue.

Remember the embers
the soft and sultry glow?
You’ll crunch along life’s ashy path
mind how the cinders blow
they’ll cut your eyes and make them bleed
for love has teeth that bite
such wounds will never ever heal
there are no words to help congeal
or close those cold love bites.

© Polly Stretton 2023

Published in On the Words of Love (Brian Wrixton & Poets with Voices Strong, 2012)

Girls Got Rhythm (Black Pear Press, 2016)

Rewritten 2023