metonymy4u

                                    itinerary
                                             1. a planned route or journey
                                             2. a travel document recording these

indifference delayed me a moment before we left.
you seemed to want something more. what then: a
a comfortable tale, a mission statement, my fears
in a stuff sack perhaps? would you pack them away

with the trail mix, the water purifier, the tent, the sleeping
bags and the spare dry socks?

to be examined every night before we turned out the moon and fell
asleep side by side as we’ve done these twenty years.

i remember the first time
i felt your back under my hand as we danced.
your breath on my neck as you held me.

like every thought you shared with me on our maiden date,
the promise you made me keep when the bill came
and i wanted to pay for our first dinner together.

the lantern like me that tried to catch you.

poets exercise their fingers with their poems and i think
you were a song you made me play so i should never forget how to love.