July Remembers

It sits dry in the bottom of my glass

An empty memory of an empty past

July remembers the taste and the heat

Perfectly bitter and equally sweet

A sip of wine and then another

Minutes embraced by a moment of summer

A fragment of night when love spilled easily

July remembers the way he looked at me

And how "I love you" poured like wine

Without a breath, nor a responsive sigh

He looked at me with wide open eyes

And I heard my heart beat wildly inside

July remembers his hands and his silence

And knows why even his breath was quiet

A bottle from the vineyard, California 2007

I thought it would see us through 2011

Still it sits in the cabinet, silent and red

July knows about things unopened, unsaid

July remembers what passed fleetingly by

But will not remind me of how or why

So the very bottom of my glass is dry

As I search for a way to say good-bye.

{Summer 2009}