First Kiss
A first kiss...So fleeting,
Pregnant with possibility,
Laden with promise;
Or fraught with danger.
Love is a journey, travelling while standing still,
And your footsteps echo
Through the ashes of past flames and shadows of old lovers
In the uninvited company of comparison.
They dog your steps wherever you choose to tread,
Or with whom.
And you learn that those bruised pathways are not always solid -
You can fall into quicksand,
Or loop around and back in upon yourself
And find yourself looking forward, walking backward.
Or the bridges, without warning, drop away and you tumble
Head-first into the swirling waters.
To that first kiss you come alone.
The sweet anticipation,
A moment forever remembered and forever lost.
The promise fulfilled,
Sometimes denied,
The waiting and wanting
Almost better than knowing.
Like a moth too close to the flame,
The exquisite fire on virgin lips
Burns brilliantly for a moment, then is gone.
Lovers come and lovers go,
But a shared first kiss
Drifts like mist straight from imminence to memory,
And lives forever like a hint of perfume
Fading in a vacated room.
© mjc 3 June 2005
