Once in Sorrento

---

                                                                                   First published by The Tokyo Poetry Journal

It was a serene day like today. 

Summer breeze rustled our hair 

as we weaved through windy walkways 

reminiscing about our school days

when he reached for a sienna silk scarf 

swaying in the wind on a stand in Sorrento.

To a friendship that has endured 

over half of our lives, he said 

as he wrapped it around my shoulders.

It was so bright amid those sweeping views 

I failed to see that shadows stalked his steps,

that an undertow made him falter and

tugged him toward tethers that stifled,

a boa constrictor that severed his ties

over time. I failed to see him submerge

in a swell of surrenders to a misguided 

marriage he’d hoped would smother his 

festering fears. Eons away from that day, 

with that scarf draped over my skin, 

I wonder if we could have averted

rifts that ensued by defusing 

her envy 

before it blew us apart, 

before fissures stiffened into chasms

that cratered the life he’d craved,

stranding him without solace in her wake.

Today, that tender day seems sinister

as I looked over his shoulder 

onto Sorrento’s ravishing shoreline 

and failed to see storm clouds

dotting the horizon.