A Kinder Yesterday
Leslie Marie Bowden

A slender silhouette without effort, frolicking
Innocent of affliction on soft, speckled sand
Delightful emotions…ethereal
Best of all was love…ah yes…love.
The faded coffee mug steams
Burning paper fingers wavering
To a seasoned, calloused and sagging countenance
Recounting the minutest of utterances
The day, same as before but a silent breeze
Announced once again with endless determination
Forever-horizontal lines, the colors all but one
A rolling fog? Or for my eyes alone
Another labored-breath, keeping time with
A backward belated stretch
Revealing ribs unseen beneath lifeless paper folds
And then forward
Every strident, creaking sway a familiar tune
Shortly the youth abound, while a mind covets
A kinder yesterday
.