Jeanne was 86 when she told me this story.
How, at the tender age of 8, Maury would
arrive at the front door, eyes downcast,
and ask so formally if Miriam
could come and play.
Miriam, upstairs, made him wait.
Jeanne said that Miriam, already then,
was packing her wedding trunk,
collecting lace and nice cloth.
Miriam and Maury
married young, as soon as they could,
and stayed together over 70 years.
Itʻs like they KNEW.
Itʻs like they meet, in that space
between lives, having lived many
and many and many before,
always together, hands linked
across time and hearts beating
to their own important song,
to talk.
Itʻs like they said, as the stars
wheeled around them in fire,
their old bodies shed again
like so much snakeskin,
as their new bodies were
just about to be born:
“What do you say,
letʻs do it again, for fun.”
