at that first random meeting,
never expecting anyone to grab them
by the neck with such happy ease,
sensing the presence of
one who was different from all
the rest of the boys and girls
they had frittered away countless
empty hours with.
They talked until three, and he
ran his near-trembling finger
along the electrified fence
of her right hand, wanting to make love
to her right then and there, but
knowing it was too soon,
even though she wanted him
inside of her more than any other
wish she had ever conceived.
Long telephone calls dominated
the days that followed; their desire
overflowed and swept over the
flood plains of their restraint
on their fourth date.
It had all happened so
unpredictably, and now lives
that were only possible in theory
had been launched, and children
loved more intensely than either of them
could ever have known it was possible to
love anything
were drifting casually through
the lived-in rooms of their
warm house.
Did they have any inkling
of the moment
when he would look up
from the hospital bed one last
time, and his eyes would once
again be 20 years old,
and that in that last instant
all that had been
would be swept away
and they would once again be lost
in the soaring newness
of each other's hopes?
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