With my wife’s permission,

I spent the late winter Saturday evening

in the memory of embrace and arms

of my first love before

heading back home, cold feet

but undoubtedly a warmed heart.

I have neglected her, since she came

into money. For nine

and half long years I watched, hiding

my interest, trying hard

to forget just what this lady

in sheer blue had once meant to me.

I had loved her

when it seemed no one else would,

when she ragged, poor, shambolic,