Alive, I tell you

and in the dream
surely as close as my breath
as close as my own shade

spread around us upon the cobbles.
It was not passion
and yet there were kisses

and joy, there was the time after margaritas
we staggered across the swaying
planked bridge, holding onto

each other as if that would prevent us
from falling. Those magical
nights of having you all to myself.

I accepted the gloom and the
moods and the way frustration
flared up like a firecracker

gone off at the wrong party
for the sake of the music,
your voice in sync with some

sappy love song, the way it made
my heart quiver and shake, the way it
made my world spin into orbit

around your invincible sun.