Cost

You left a clementine on the table

Right next to my hand.

Care can be an untamed heart.

We could never agree on a movie but

You had a freckle just below your left elbow

That I stared at sometimes when you held me.

I used to put on records at night

and stare at the popcorn ceiling,

Fantasizing about a life

beyond the grip of my imagination.

I didn’t realize how slippery love was until it was gone.

I could never find the receipt,

But I knew what it cost me to say it

Just the same.