Lost
But how could I have
returned to you?
How? When 
the memory 
of 
fingertips
still burned my face 
like bars of sunlight
falling 
heavily 
through autumn 
shadows,
and behind 
ordinary 
things the 
colors 
of the 
world
were 
memories 
of the angels’ touch?
I am trying to 
speak.
I couldn't 
return ---
not with this 
desire 
shivering in me like a drenched 
child. This longing 
for a 
breath
to tear me open.
This lust that will 
slice me into color.
I didn't speak. I turned 
from you. I 
drifted 
into the trees. I saw 
the lovers kiss, and they
fell into each other 
and blew away, 
sand 
on the ancient wind,
turning 
deeper 
into the blue wind
and the 
sky
and the 
sky
and the 
sky
James Owens divides his time between Wabash, 
Ind., and Northern Ontario. Two books of his poems have been published: An Hour is the Doorway (Black Lawrence Press) 
and Frost 
Lights a Thin Flame (Mayapple Press). His poems, reviews, translations, 
and photographs have appeared widely in literary journals, including recent or 
upcoming publications in The Cortland Review, The Cresset, Poetry 
Ireland, and The Chaffey Review.  He blogs at http://circumstanceandmagic.blogspot.com
 
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