Antiquated Dialogues Poem by RIC BASTASA

hand in hand
these are some of the antiquated dialogues: i love you
and
i love you too,

take care always,
i will always love you

and she leaves
and he says: i will always wait for you
and she says: i shall return

take care of the flowers
cultivate the soil and water what turns
dry

and feed my kitty and put water
near the door

write me some letters
send me text messages or call me
at least once a day when you are not busy

time flies
the flowers die and kitty gets away
to another neighborhood with other cats

there are no messages
no letters

and there is nothing to wait for
the footsteps left on the shore
where they made
the promise
had long been washed away