Betrayed by Glimpses

The miles and wiles of ways for years along
The meandering path of a garden strong
My mind so wanders, imprisoned for a score
And never wishing to depart - not for another season more

She sits
A cold rigid bench of stone beneath her
The statue to my dreams
A monument of sentiment
For a lonely fool like me
Chiseled and eroded
So that nothing defining could mark or mar a feature
I am ignored forever by this: God's beloved creature

I tiptoe closer, realize how much older she is than I
Think she's reading
But I couldn't tell the letters from the words today
Even if I weren't twelve steps, three bushes away

The shears clatter to the ground
My blistered hands revel in the smoothness of hers
After I've run to the sunspot
Swept her up
Up, higher
Mightier to Heaven we go
Followed by carriages full of others
Like us
Soaring to a place without books and gardens
Sans authors and keepers
Where two people are-

A daydream
I still clasp the massive shears
Holding hedges at bay
And she yet sits reading about
Others who've flown away