Summer dress

 

I have forgotten how to say things simply.

I have had this conversation in my mind

many times before within my mind.

I have questioned my questions

and have quested for words

to merely define

simply the questions.

A word would have been an achievement.

But the universe expands

and complexity multiplies.

The perspective which I seek is relative

to quasars or to quarks.

So, when you wore that summer dress

on that summer day,

I was at a loss for words.

Suddenly the words I usually have

at the tip of my pen

were so inadequate to the task

of telling you

how just looking at you

merely standing there

in your life

made me feel.

And you moved.

Swirled.

And now my nonsense

is nearly complete.

Later after dinner,

my wife and I drove to the lake

as the day was coming

to another normal end.

We parked and walked along the guardrail

to where we could see the earth and the sky together.

The air was a little thick that evening,

so we could easily stare

as the orange solar disc

dipped easily toward the lake.

It slipped for a few moments

behind a bar of clouds,

a lower arc of orb reappearing

before all settled into a low bed of clouds

nearly the color of one of the colors

in your summer dress.

The sky was the sky.

And the earth was the earth,

steady as she goes.

The lake, wind-patterned, but calm,

carried along the color.

There were ripples in your dress as I recall,

but the moments are so long gone

that there is no point in weeping

over what has already been nearly forgotten.

And still I discovered,

hidden in a drawer in my soul,

feelings I couldn’t express.

It is not my words,

but me, myself,

who is out of place.

And perhaps me,

looking for mere words

before properly looking at your dress.

Some muted blues, simple lines.

The dress suited you

and I should have opened my eyes

to simplicity and elegance.

But truly there isn’t time.

I cannot seem to slow my mind enough,

to abandon all the extraneous words and thoughts

rushing through at the speed of sunlight.

This might be how and why

one should look at only what is in front of one’s mind,

calming the moment.

I’ll tie my memory to a word or two

and toss the others aside.

And then I will toss those, too, away as well.

The sun has long set

and a spell must be spoken from the heart.

I will see you rise with the full moon,

the color of your summer dress,

the night wind curling your hem,

your eyes reflecting the dew

reflecting the moon

reflecting the sun

reflecting your look

reflecting the way I feel

when I see your summer dress

on you.