Letting Go

Best to let love go, but gently,
for love is precious, love is rare.
We’ll let it melt into the air
as deliquescent chords
of the cello.

Best to let love go, but tenderly –
bid farewell to whatever we had
and with its ending
create a new beginning.

Best to let love go, but softly,
as is offered up a prayer
to some or other god
we pretend we believe in.

Let the violets go
you once pinned in my hair
one balmy summer’s night
when someone, somewhere,
played violin; a melody
drifting on by,
on the wings of a zephyr.

Best to let them go, but preciously,
the life we shared –
for the sheer hell of it.

I climbed mountains with you,
saw fern fronds unfurl with you –
baked bread with you.
Made butterfly shadows
on a bedroom wall with you ...
shared the oneness of the dawn.

Best we let love go, but willingly.
Not because our hearts
have grown cold, but because
we have given all we owned.
Nothing more, nothing less,
than our one living moment.