Longing [Revision]

I’m haunted now by longing, as I age –

the remembered longings of youthful loves –

like an old book, where I turn to a page

back near the beginning, to see if it moves

my spirit now as then. Such treasure troves

of beauty and sorrow I hold within! 

Yet why, after so long, do they return

to haunt me? I’d resolved to relegate

all to burial chambers. But they burn,

those old flames, flaring ... as the hour grows late. 

                                                    

[Revised 25 June 20204. Earlier draft posted 19 April 2024.]