ONE LAST KISS

Alone at last,
just you and me again,
and the spell you cast on my heart
a lifetime ago.

How bizarre
to have you sing your final song
in such a sterile room,
one not deserving of your presence,
your style, your grace...
but you had a way of making everything around you sparkle,
like bursts of blinding light
in the evening sky,
because you were here.

With your hand in mine,
it matters little where we are
or how we got here,
as long as we traveled as one
and caressed each moment
as though it were our last.

You have done that, my Lady, and more,
your spirit melting into the sky,
unfolding like petals of a rose
under tears of morning dew.

I whisper to the world...come back to me Babe,
but your silent heart
answers me no more.
I know now
I will never again see your footprints in the garden,
and the truth is overwhelming...
the truth is unimaginable.

It is time to kiss you goodbye, but I hesitate,
for unlike Siamese twins,
we are not only connected at the hip,
we share the same soul.
I fear that in losing you, I lose me as well.

I must leave you now,
to begin my walk alone, to regain my footing,
but my heart protests and I am immobile,
like a petrified stone in a forest of shadows.

I feel anchored with your kiss,
your lips like velvet,
still warm from the morning sun.

I must leave now, but before I go,
like a thief in the night,
I was born to steal...
one last kiss.

© JOHN PISCATELLA