By: Jimmy Coker

It was the walk that drew me
As though she were going somewhere
fast
Then the eyes deep and brown.

These impressions never fade.

We were sixteen
What did we know of the tangle of love?
I knew only that she moved me,
that time apart heavied my heart

We talked, kids hidden in an old white Chevy,
laughing, loving, deep in some farmer’s hidden field.
Time was ours and we claimed it.

Life chimed in, moving up and down the country,
we pulled on opposite polls, yet somewhere buried deep
I could never leave that girl so full of grace,

I am old now, infirm, the product of a life brought to term,
close in time to my great slumber, objects matter little.
But memories make me smile.

Oh, for one instant, one moment past
Feeling her warmth against me, one kiss permitted
to innocent lips.
Too late, in the grist of life.

These impressions never fade.