"The Cold Side"

By Luke Labern

Though years had passed and so had we
We met again, as if by chance;
And time, it seems, had blinded me
For we exchanged the lovers’ glance.

I’d tried to blur such memories:
For now our palpitations merged
And dreams of mine flashed by degrees —
The very ones I’d once submerged.

Is there a reason why I suppress
A chance reconciliation?
The greatest flaw I could confess:
This tragedy is my creation.

I lost her once — so too myself —
And though our hands meet once again
She cannot dare to risk her health
— And parted we remain.