Endlessly Poem by June Caden

My skin was tinged by that lemon striped blouse.
Come sit down by the ocean while I tossed my hair
and help me pretend to be everything I am not
in that shallow, graceless, splendid summer.
Hopelessly I'll love you endlessly
years and years from now
when regret and hatred is my stilled tongue
under the dark swaying trees.

Now that I have memories am I old?
soil encrust my cold boundless bones
as I hold his song from that clear rimmed morning
when lonesomeness was a gift.
It was then
when no one could hear
I looked up and said—
Hopelessly I'll love you endlessly
even under the dark swaying trees.

When the bliss subsided I mouthed each loving word to you
amidst a brief perception of that mellow nothingness
I knew none of it mattered
and thanked a god for placing me at the very end of this light.
Hopelessly I'll love you endlessly—
Years and years later I will still be here
above me grows the dark swaying trees.
There will be not much to do
not much to say
except maybe to listen to a grieving tree.
There was never much to do
never much to say
Except maybe that my life was a skipping stone
that leaped across a shimmering lake
then sank forever.