Theme and Variations

(After Beethoven's Piano Sonata no. 30 in E major)

It's dark, late evening.
Light wind through the elms.
The air smells like rain.

1.
That windy evening in the park.
Why don't we climb? you said.
We sat on a branch, low in the massive pine
and lost count of the times we kissed.

2.
Talk to me, I said
after one of those long, hot days.
Evenings on the balcony we'd wait
for any small movement of air.

3.
Two a.m. and you weren't there
beside me in the dark bed.
You were somewhere on the roadside
waiting out the blinding rain.
I lay awake, imagining calamities.

4.
It was almost dark when we walked
home in the rain. I said because
I love you, but couldn't explain
how that answered the question.

5.
We brought home takeout chicken,
drank a toast and talked till late.
Lit candles and turned out the lights.

6.
Late evening. It's dark.
You at your desk. I pass
behind you, stop
to touch your hair.
There's a light wind in the elms.
The air smells like rain.