The Passing Years

The years pass
and he is now
just one illness
away from being old
yet passion lives
desire abides
that stirs
elusive memory

She was his
one last time
love and lover
just once more
the thrill
of racing blood
the aching heart
of revisited desire

Passionate ideas and love
escaped her urgent lips
the hopes of youth
unchecked unstilled
by life’s cold hand
enchanted his soul
undimmed by time
unmanned by love

If love is but
a doomed attempt
to fix in time
the necessarily
impermanent
then grasp it now
when its allure
Is immanent

The unrestrained
heart of youth still
beat within his breast
one last time
he was in love
not merely loved
nor foolish or absurd
in love again...with life