First it was months
and then years; they went by
so slowly at first

and then everything picked up
speed. I suppose you could say
we forgot you—it’s true

that after a while I stopped
wondering what you would
have said about the men

I met and the new songs on
the radio. I learned how
to make my own choices.

What else could I do? You
went down into the earth
as surely as Persephone

and we were not gods that
we could make the earth
yield you up again, though

lately I dream
there is a very simple answer
that I once thought I knew.