when all is well   little things 

take on great significance   all is not well 

in the world   it is well here

in our apartment   in our little world   i think we work hard

to make it so   marketa

knows how to keep the world at bay   this morning we marched  

tonight we are at home   in between we worked  

marketa is practicing her songs

and working on class preparations   i am writing

and watching her   her smile undoes me every time  

and she smiles often   the world is not well  

it is hard not to feel guilty about our quiet happiness   hard for me  

marketa does it better   her dark past brightens every good day

in the present   in the here and now   in the moment

~

i bring her a cup of tea   we talk a little   i tell her a little story

i've told it before   some of it

i was fourteen   my fourteenth summer   my family

was traveling and camping that summer

my best friend was with us

one of the first evenings we built a fire   watching

sparks rise to the stars   my father and mother

loved to sing folk songs

one of the songs they sang that night was

the first time ever i saw your face   written by ewan maccoll  

a scottish singer   as my parents sang  

i tried with all my might to reach for my friend's hand  

i hadn't the nerve   instead   she reached for mine   

i think of her when i hear that song   

~

sometimes marketa sings it for me   knowing

what it means   she sang it today

while we were driving home from the march  

i had pull over for the tears   oh   it couldn't be more sappy  

i well know   so be it   at times

the memory of that summer is almost more than i can bear  

for marketa to evoke such emotion  

i don't know what to make of it   loving her as i do  

she says to have such memories is a gift

she wants me to remember   to feel the feelings    

when the summer ended

i thought my heart would break   and i think it did

because even now   even here and now   at this moment  

i ache for that summer love

~

i often think of one day in particular

when the sun was hot

we were camped near a beach on block island

my friend and i lay in the shade

of a grove of trees

on a beach towel   kissing the morning away

we spent the afternoon body-surfing

and had ice cream 

after dinner in town   that evening   at bed time

as we got in our sleeping bags   she kissed me goodnight

she tasted of crest toothpaste

it was the best day   marketa and i have the best days

in the here and now   at this moment   but no one moment

brings such a welling of emotion   or hadn't    

~

until today   until marketa sang for me  

my friend and i loved each other two more summers

before we each went away to school 

we still wish each other a happy birthday

and when something

jogs a memory we tend to send a message 

reminding the other of the occasion

i think we were templates for love   for what love can be 

each of us has found and lost love  

i have found it again   she has not   not that way

she has two beautiful daughters  

we saw each other once   at a new year's eve party  

it all came back   the glint in her eye   my heart racing  

but that was then   and this is now