sharing a lingering kiss

in an aloha embrace.

Several steps farther,

I turn for one last look

but she's disappeared!

Once more

I'm an amoeba in humanity's lake.

Lisa Price was my first lover.

She was "Thelonius" , "Bird" , and "Train".

Sweeter and purer

than a Beiderbecke solo,

her leaving hit me harder

than Marciano hit Walcott in '52.

20 year old memories of her

come in bits and pieces;

slightly hooked nose,

melting smile,

soft blonde hair

smelling faintly of strawberries.

Sometimes in middle age's distorted reflections

she becomes a figment of my imagination.

My heart never forgot Lisa

(and OH how it tried),

first courier of two painful lessons.

No sex is free;

No pleasure without Price.

Copyright ©2002 Daniel Grey Taylor