You cannot draw him back into your world
You cannot refresh his memory of your lives
together      elopement in city hall
Stone Lake summers with the boys
renewed romance on the high seas      the year
our noisy nest emptied
You cannot recapture time
adjust Dali’s clock

You cannot argue
there is no way to win
his wool argyle sweater is too hot
in July    his sister visited Friday
no one has breached
the safety deposit box

You cannot fall on your knees
in the dark    wail Oh God
deliver him from
this graying miasma
deadening trap

You cannot beg a promise
You cannot bring him home.

Nancy Smiler Levinson is author of MOMENTS OF DAWN: A Poetic Memoir of Love & Family, Affliction & Affirmation, as well as work published in Voice of Eve, Poetica, Burningword Literary Journal, Rat’s Ass Review, The Copperfield Review, Foliate Oak, Drunk Monkey, many anthologies, and elsewhere. She lives in Los Angeles.