By Patrick Johnston
Next time when
if, I fall in love
we will lie, together,
my lover and I
and she will trace with
her fingers or her lips
and ask the stories
carried on my body
in scars and ink
and I will say, sure
here is the story
of this scar,
and this mark,
and this talisman,
and this incantation,
and this hidden secret,
and I will tell her my body’s stories
even as my body grows old
.
and she will nod
and ask her questions
and feel her feelings
even though she knew, already
that this body had history
.
The next time
if I fall in love
I think will be the last time
.
I have all the love in the world
to give
but not the time
