trapeze swinger

please, remember me, happily,

by the rosebush laughing

with bruises on my chin, the time when

we counted every black car passing

your house beneath the hill, and up until

someone caught us in the kitchen

with maps, a mountain range, a piggy bank

a vision too removed to mention

and please remember me, at Halloween

making fools of all the neighbours

our faces painted white, by midnight

we'd forgotten one another

and when the morning came I was ashamed

only now it seems so silly

that season left the world and then returned

and now you're lit up by the city

and please remember me, as in the dream

we had as rug-burned babies

among the fallen trees and fast asleep

beside the lions and the ladies

that called you what you like and even might

give a gift for your behaviour:

a fleeting chance to see a trapeze-

swinger high as any saviour