A May Afternoon

 

Side by side, they bound down the walk,

muscular boys in their sweaty prime;

On the grass, indolent girls bare limbs to the sun,

lost in a dream already out of reach:

beauty lasts, youth will prevail, love never fails.

 

I watch, a not-impartial observer, and wonder:

How could we have been so cavalier?

Clouds appear, to the west thunder; beach towels

are stowed, the wildflowers scatter.

It was marvelous, wasn’t it? and over too soon:

the dream we shared swallowed by the years.

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