YOU by Charles Bane Jr

YOU

I came upon you

when I was a child

and kept the memory

close, through every

feverish year.  My hair

was silk from corn; yours,

black as the birds upon the snow

I fed the winter long. I opened books

at night and looked at barest

trees and wished for Spring. I watched

for leaves birthing like the stars. I made

poems, and saved the lights I found

waiting in my marrow. One day I would tell

you of the music I heard between its honey-

combs and followed til words rested

on a page. You would understand. You

would hold the glass and pour my amber

work until it filled you to a brim.

You would say, this flames the trees

and you are the harvester of my soul.

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Charles Bane, Jr, has been published widely, in print and online. His work has appeared in : Clutching At Straws, museumviews. com, Durable Goods, The First Literary Review East , The Indian Diary, The Criterion, An International Journal in English, and Word Pond, among others. His work was critically reviewed in ” Charles Bane, Jr, : Introduction to a Poet”, in The Calliope Nerve.. His first book will appear in late Spring, published by Curbside Splendor.