by Jeffrey Jullich

Pas de Deux

Reenacted by professionals, faithfully simulated,
A naked athlete and a naked harlequin
Grapple and lunge awkward
Fumbling modelled as closely as possible
After the original caresses.

But, I cautioned them, I have elsewhere
Testified in privy all I goodly know
On the discourse of love.
Is April ever truly repeated?
Does the wind that grazes our cheek

Return to retract its touch?
They saddle me a lean moon's
Provender and a parson's potage
And so bid gramercy.

Months went tumbling by through a rabbit-hole.
Years floated by tied to balloons.
Those were the happiest days of our lives
And they were Daylight Savings Time.

Unforgettable morning gave way to unsurpassed night.
Passers-by on the street nodded and tipped their caps.
The rain parted around us and left the umbrella dry.
I held your hand and you held mine.

The narrow staircase leads by ricketty
Turns and reversals
To an attic with damasked tapestry drawn across
Its sloped ceiling. The floor is an inclined plane.
There, in a nook spread with hay, you held
A finger to your lips. The silence hummed.
The bow of the violin hung about its predestined chord.

Remembrance pervades the air.
Silvery powder showers down onto the porch.
The serenade wafts through the garden.

Grabbing him by the ankles, he held
The acrobat in front of him like a wheelbarrow.
The stuntman is brought in for this one.
Their mouths are fastened tight as barnacles.

A box of tissues should be kept on hand for weepers.
Children are sent from the room,
The faint of heart, advised to avert their instamatics.