Grenadier Pond #2
All I have is a photo
Scanned and copied many times,
A wonder the colour still remains.
You wore an eye-catching tube-top,
The colour of newly-opened leaves
That hugged you
Like I so wanted to do
In that moment.
The sun on your hair cast a halo
Of impossible stars
In the bright summer sky
That made me blink and shield my eyes.
And your smile trapped me
Like the deer in the paddocks
Beyond the slope behind us.
I was yours to command.
We were sitting on a grassy bank
That oversaw the mirrored pond
At the heart of the park
And we may have been sharing
A picnic lunch
Of sandwiches and fruit.
There were neatly flowered gardens
Nestled in well-tended beds
All around the path
That snaked down the hill.
There were many trees, mostly oak
To judge by the carpet of caps and pods
That dared any walkers to go barefoot.
We teased the squirrels to approach
With pieces of bread
Which they did not need
And signs cautioned us not to do.
All these memories,
Whether true or false
Or just the stuff of wishful thinking
And fanciful remembering
And a longing for things
Long passed;
So hard to say.
It was so long ago
And all I have is a photo.
Palimpsest 
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