Nice Family

It was
A day like a crisp jewel.
We fit together for once,
Hand linked in hand.
In hand, the day clear
Clean as a blade of glass.
“See them, aren’t they
A nice family.”
Leaves crunch delightfully
As they should,
And the sky was a vault full of brightness
And our laughter clacked like pearls.

It was only later, I remember,
That it started to get soggy at the edges.
Petty tears, a lost
Phone, the parking lot-
You forgot. That night
You stood in the spray,
Glorying in fierce rich danger,
Your hair ripped by speed.
And my fingers twisted and screamed
And the worry was the worm eating the heart
Of the apple we picked in Maine, September, and then
Your smile, a cry, a splash, and an
Ocean.