Soft Reunion
It couldn’t possibly be you.
But then why not?
Forty years concertinaed
into a moment.
You were choosing
tomatoes, massaging
smooth firm skin
with caring fingers;
I was pretending to
look at grapes.
You had left a note
in my desk at school,
denied it later,
but I saw you.
Your voice appeared,
muffled, like I was
semi-conscious.
“Hi ,how good to see you”.
I froze, was trembling
locked in girlish stare.
Then came the smile;
oh my goodness,
that smile.
Your arms embraced me,
soft curious and tender,
years of wishful thinking.
Then you gave me
the tightest possible
forty year long hug.
I was still holding the grapes.
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Dec 06, 2011 @ 12:19:52
Gorgeous!!! You describe the most wonderful encounter. Loved it! 🙂
Dec 07, 2011 @ 09:36:59
Thank you Angela, for your lovely comment.
Precious moments!
Christine
Dec 06, 2011 @ 12:32:29
This is just lovely! And so… honest? I can almost imagine the grapes being squeezed, too!
Dec 07, 2011 @ 09:39:18
Thank you David, your comments are much appreciated.
And yes, this did really happen a few years ago; the grapes did get a hug too!
Christine
Dec 07, 2011 @ 05:49:28
Resonating with this – (those are the best hugs – so poignant!)
Dec 07, 2011 @ 09:43:24
Thank you Betty – it.s a moment
Thank you Betty – it is a moment to be remembered!
Christine
Dec 07, 2011 @ 12:49:57
Hi Christine,
This is a great poem, and what a lovely reunion! 🙂 To meet someone from way back is special, and this one was even more so! 🙂 Juicy ending too!
Love and Hugs
Ina xx
Dec 07, 2011 @ 12:59:00
Thank you Ina!
Your comment “juicy ending too” made me smile out loud! 🙂
Love and hugs
Christine xx
Dec 07, 2011 @ 20:26:52
That is just beautiful, Christine. Simple words of deep love..
Dec 08, 2011 @ 10:17:40
Thank you so much Harry.
I really appreciate your comment.
Christine
Dec 07, 2011 @ 22:00:12
This is a quite exquisite poem, Christine. I feel this is your voice…simple yet intense sharing of a moment in time. Love this!
Especially this visualization:
‘You were choosing
tomatoes, massaging
smooth firm skin
with caring fingers;
I was pretending to
look at grapes.’
Dec 08, 2011 @ 10:21:27
Thank you so much. This is a lovely comment.
You always give me such encouragement, sometimes it makes me feel tearful (like now!!!)
Thank you again
Christine
Dec 08, 2011 @ 00:07:45
Hi Christine,
I just adore this poem. You’ve woven such a sweet tenderness through your images (must be the grapes! 🙂 )
I can see so clearly this journey through time and what a wonderful way to recieve a hug! I’m somewhat humbled by the line ” …forty year old hug…”
I’m only 33! EEp! *lol* I can’t comprehend that time frame. *lol* But it makes me hopefully some day I will and I’ll have as sweet a memories as this. 🙂
I’m left all warm and fuzzy after reading your beautiful poem.
Thank you for sharing it. 🙂
love and
((((BIG HUGS))))
Tikarma
xxoxoxo
Dec 08, 2011 @ 10:32:03
Aww, thank you Tikarma – It’s lovely to think I can make you feel “all warm and fuzzy”.
I could say “EEp” too – two of my children are a little bit older than you!!!!! My youngest daughter is only 25 though so I can use her to make me feel a bit younger!!
“I can’t comprehend that time frame” – I can’t either!! But memories are everlasting and precious. I never did date the person in the poem, just admired the view from a distance! – makes you wonder doesn’t it, “what if” etc etc. LOL
Thank you for your lovely comment
Love and
(((BIG HUGS))) to you too
Christine xx
Dec 08, 2011 @ 22:03:18
A very sweet and tender poem about a wonderful encounter! So simple yet so poignant and lasting. Really nice!
Dec 08, 2011 @ 22:16:50
Thank you for this lovely comment. It is much appreciated.
Christine
Dec 09, 2011 @ 02:21:35
What a wondrous poem! All of your poetry sings with a directness and clean line that is refreshing. This is no different, although perhaps a little more squishy. New love echoed through forty years to, what? New love?
Dec 09, 2011 @ 08:40:53
Thank you Thomas; your comment made me smile! “Squishy” sometimes feels necessary!!
Although there was never any relationship here at all! Nothing more than a note in the desk and my fear to take it any further. (We were only 14!) The hug was about what might have been, I feel, after both pursuing our separate lives.
Christine
Dec 09, 2011 @ 04:20:37
I wonder how it feels to have lost something and find it again after so many years.
Dec 09, 2011 @ 08:47:32
Thank you for your comment.
As I said to Thomas there was nothing here to lose really, but yet a great reunion, at last being able to at least acknowledge the original act of the note in the desk!
And a moment to think, possibly, of what might have been.
Christine
Dec 10, 2011 @ 04:56:33
It’s lovely to know that some things can endure for decades. ❤
Dec 09, 2011 @ 13:25:57
Oh, I love this.
One of those special moments in time which, if we didn’t write about them, would perhaps be lost for ever.
Much Love
David
xxx
Dec 09, 2011 @ 13:57:38
This is wonderful, Christine – your lovely line about ‘pretending to look at grapes’ captures so well that adolescent awkwardness we thought we’d overcome, but always comes back to bite us in these situations (or maybe that’s just me?!) One of your best works to date, IMHO. N. x
Dec 09, 2011 @ 17:35:59
Thank you Nick.
What a lovely comment; you paid me a big compliment here. it is much appreciated.
And it’s not just you; it certainly “comes back to bite us”!! I think it always will.LOL:)
I had to “google” IMHO! – I am learning so many acronyms since I came onto facebook and here on WP. The mere using of these makes me feel like a teenager again! It;s a teenagey sort of thing don’t you think?:) Almost like writing in code, which, now I remember, is what the note in the desk suggested we do so nobody would know what we were saying to each other!!!!!!!! I don’t believe I just remembered that!! LOL
Christine!
Dec 13, 2011 @ 16:36:42
I love the title of this poem and the final line, too. This played in my head like a scene from a film as I read it – you write so directly and vividly.
Dec 13, 2011 @ 21:44:40
Thank you BH, for your heartwarming comment
Christine
Dec 16, 2011 @ 18:35:29
Wonderful imagery. I adore the last line.
Dec 17, 2011 @ 11:09:47
Thank you for visiting and leaving this lovely comment
Christine
Jan 03, 2012 @ 15:35:13
Christine, I love this poem.
Jan 03, 2012 @ 17:08:41
Thank you Jane, for visiting and for your comment. I’m glad you like my poem.
Christine