To Linger (Neruda)

I remember you as you were in the last autumn,
in black and white, in sheets and sheets, on fallen leaves, in puddles, by torch-light -  
in reflections of eyes unable to see  
the metal core of your soul.  
  
Your will still bent me as espalier trees,  
the buds contorted, the bones ill at ease.  
A bonfire of awe inside my youth was burning  
as the delicate flowers of my spring were nurtured to show.  
   
You relieve, as deciduous leaves, upon consistent growth.  
The sheets and sheets fall, the still frame of our moment migrates  
where our touches caught beneath torch-light    
are frozen in black as char, in white as snow.  
   
The heady ball of light makes puddles of us,  
melts harsh history to purer reflections cast upon our familiar sky  
as buds are constrained to pay my toll.  
Those Autumn days hollowed out the soul.  
   
#PabloNeruda