Stopping Time

Today
Getting ready to sleep
I remember:

Sitting in a restaurant.
Talking with you.

I was recounting
The fond memory of a love gone by
And nearly shed a tear.

You reached out and took my hand.

A moment of tenderness.
"Thank you", I said.

You brought me back
To the restarurant
From the memory
Of my lover's sleeping embrace.

I see your hand clasp
Frozen in time.
And welcome the tenderness
Of that instant.

I look through it
To the earlier moment
Also frozen in time:

My lover and I
One or the other of us
Wakes a bit
And cuddles in closer.

I pray to God
There'll be another
Who does that too.

Until then
Two tender moments
Frozen in time.
Thank you.


	18 January 2000 revised 20 August 2000
	by Bill Cattey