OF LOVE AND TIME
Word Count: 340
It suddenly was just there, a baby Japanese red maple fighting for space in the tangle of wild blueberries and weeds in the hedgerow. I fell to my knees, fingering the delicate leaves fine as lace.
The young man who lives with me is both memory and dream. He weaves past into present with his fingers, stirring up years that have flowed by in the oblivion of my youth. There is honesty in the rings of his eye. The beauty he believes he is seeking he finds in the soft mounds of my breasts, the unfettered welcome of my arms and thighs as they surround him.
It was a year after I had been abandoned. When the man I had lived with and loved for so long felt he had to move on. And my young man was suddenly just there. Broken from love too demanding, as young love will be. We, both alone at our tables with coffee and book, looked up now and then, me shyly, he more bold and questioning. The next time, we sat down together. We talked of books, and flavored whipped coffees, then of love.
There were no expectations but honesty. No promises but those of respect. It was freedom as neither of us had known before. We honored each other and that, in its own way, is love.
I’ve taken a shovel and carefully, carefully moved the small sapling to a welcoming place. I watered and fertilized and staked against buffeting winds. To nurture. To offer it hope. Safe from its past, secure in its future. I know it will thrive.
My young man will leave me. Soon, I expect, and I will sigh with both relief and yearning. He has blended time into a blanket that will keep me warm and content. For memories brought back into life and dreams made real are back within the reach of my mind now.
And he, his heart tended, mended and carefully held, will grow strong and sure in a new place, where he belongs.
