By All Accounts Poem by Susan Lacovara

I count them all
The sea of fishes
Wide mouthed men
Who tell me tales
Of how they would be
The one and only
Should I cast my line
And draw them to my beachhead

But none so pretty
As the one who got away
The catch and release
Of setting him free
To deeper blue seas
To swim beyond my eyes focus
Into the distant dimming horizon
The waves washing over my head

I count the days til summer's surrender
Remembering last year was so much hotter
Much brighter, because of the tidal surge of him
By all accounts I am left with my sandy feet
Standing alone on the Long Island shores
An island of longing for what was back then
My tanned shoulders turned against the sunset
As you turned away from my touch

I count the molasses minutes
White lying to myself that I am just fine
As I finger the fine white sand
Slipping through my grasp...
And I remember that Autumn holds memories also
And prepare for more missing of you.