My lost love, back when Zeus split us in two-
our intelligence and completeness
a threat to the gods-this ache
began, this perpetual wandering…
I’ve seen you in the teeming, concupiscent
streets, I married you, at dusk I followed you
into bars; ever time I found you
I recognized you as someone seen before.
I could not choose not to respond to desire.
Only you understand.
Old now, I admit to you
I’ve been content for hours watching deer
play out their nimble, nervous lives.
I’ve considered flowers and without sadness
watched them drop their yellow leaves.
In dreams you still whisper to me
and in dreams I whisper back.
But we make fewer plans.
I will tell you, Androgyne, what I learned today
about the sublime. It’s that moment
when a compound changes
from one state to another. It’s chemistry.
All lovers know it’s chemistry,
not physics, that makes the world go round.
And maybe when we meet again
after one of our long journeys toward the other,
you will find me wishing
to do little more than brush back
a lock of hair that’s fallen
across your face, too close to an eye.
We’ll be sitting side by side,
noontime, in a park.
We’ll not be able to see the sun
due to the excess of light.
I’ll raise my hand to your face
and you’ll tilt your cheek my way,
and I’ll move that lock of hair, now gray,
to where I’ve always liked it to be.
