I found her simple necklace
A slender thread of gold
Linked to a modest cross of stone
Cowering in a fold
Of my jeans where she had thrown it
Sheltering from the storm
Of our unholy communion
Devoid of shape or form

And as I turned yesterday’s love
Between my fingers dry
A single filament of straw
Did catch my rueful eye
Stolen from her sweet head entwined
And tangled clinging there
Not wanting to let go of that
Which was so sweet and fair

I let it swing, pendulum free
Echoing ebbs and flows
Of life’s uncertain passages
Where reason seldom shows
The turns to take or choices wise
To make or leave alone
When love is blind to all around
And laughs at the unknown

The fragile chain of twisted ore
Falls limp into my palm
A hand encloses yielding coils
This useless pagan charm
I seal my fist and grasp the times
We smiled here once again
Before letting shallow dreams slip
Into the murky Seine