[John Riley]

Revision

City Circle

Neither one, roles undefined,
said a word when it began to happen,
when our legs fell weary and light as dust
and we could only make fair progress
by twisting our hips and leaning
forward from lane edge to lane edge.
Soon the moving had our bones creaking
but we never questioned the pain that settled
like old armor on top of our hips.
We looked at one another only once,
could not bear to see what the other presented,
the flaming smile like wind-pressed excitement,
the wide-open eyes, with no plans to close.

City Circle

We took a short walk in the city woods,
ten minutes to travel the trail that cut
through the middle of the manicured oaks,
and then a looping return along half
of the full circle around the copse.
Neither one, roles undefined,
said a word when it began to happen,
when our legs fell weary and light as dust
and we could only make fair progress
by twisting our hips and leaning
forward from lane edge to lane edge.
Soon the moving had our bones creaking
but we never questioned the pain that settled
like old armor on top of our hips.
We looked at one another only once,
could not bear to see what the other presented,
the flaming smile like wind-pressed excitement,
the wide-open eyes, with no plans to close.