Elusivity

It’s quite possible I’m obsessed with the passage of time.

Time, are you the villain?
A shadow thief?
You creep like a cat,
You lurk, 
skulk a little.
You are Stealth;
Gone before I realize you were even there.

You leave me with my jaw dropped open,
unhinged;
Eyes be wide,
bewildered and bumfuzzled.
Unsteady on my feet.

You’re the second bottle of Cabernet
I really shouldn’t open;
blurry memories,
flurry of slurry smiles,
velvet eye-lids heavy with easy nostalgia.
Soft edges, thick with perennial shadows
undaunted by your passing.

You’re a deckle-edged photograph,
hazy in the patio’s firelight.
Under a pincushion of stars,
dance partners cross generations,
hearts hum verses of “Crazy Love:”

It makes me righteous, and it makes me whole
And it makes me mellow, down into my soul.

Old hips sway and seek stability in the dusk;
the once-smaller foot now leads,
and gravity secures us while I sigh and fall in love again and again.

You are elusivity.

You’re a Cape Cod sunset

bayside in August;

smooth, mossy-green pebbles breathe at low tide.

Beauty lasts long after the light has dipped below the horizon,

and we drink in every breath. 

You are liquid,
And yet my thirst is never quenched.

Are you a ghost? A devilish delusion?
or

Time, are you the hero?

You are
Strength,
Hope,
and memories of
generations to come.