The years have passed
like sunshine through an empty house--
with scent of pine, the clear summer cries
of children--all that memory detains
and worships in locked rooms.
Where you, first love, lie cool
and unchanging, kept by the night--
that November, in front of Kevin’s fireplace
with the white dog between us,
the premise of its downy pelt
that joined our hands,
the shrine in your palm
where I approached, at last, and began
this journey into skin