pro-gress

if yesterday knew about today
the moment may have passed
without caution
the screen door closed
sun setting up for dawn

if your hands melted
against the glass, raised impressions
i would have pressed my body into it
imagining the cool return of the glass
was your dewy flesh, freshly showered

if the hollow echo of footsteps
didn't remind me of this emptiness
i might not have paused to feel
the monotony of this experience
within the pattern of likeness that
keeps me sane

you'd fill up this space
your presence would smooth the surface
the edges would be removed
replaced with effervescent laughter
jubilant tones trickling down the drains

and the morning's return to life
wouldn't pass, unsuspectingly modest
as it creeps onto my forehead
like wandering wisps of hair, misplaced
in the innocence of our sleepy tumble

if you knew this were possible
you would have waited to hold my hand
your eagerness for my body waiting with a knowingness
aging like wine, collecting a dust made up of memories