I know two hearts one memory keep
                                               That cannot die or sleep.
                                                                       —Thomas MacDonagh

Some moments passion locks away
to rise in dreams long afterwards.
The fire, ashes cold and gray—
until an ember glows and stirs.

Watch how she feigns to slip his hugs,
then leans to kiss him by surprise.
The beach still looks just as it was,
though the quake swept it beneath the tides.

How fast they’ve dressed! And as the wind
picks up, now race each other through
the sand to Old Todd’s Place which burned
down years ago, long since these two

had lost all touch, who might still miss
what’s only found in dreams like this.

Mark Mansfield is the author of four poetry collections. His most recent collection is titled Greygolden (Chester River Press, 2021). His poems have appeared in The Adirondack Review, Anthropocene, Bayou, Fourteen Hills, The High Window, London Grip, Magma, Measure, Orbis, Panoply, Vita Poetica Journal, and elsewhere. He has been a Pushcart Prize nominee. Currently, he lives in upstate New York.