Poem to the Woman with Spectacular Eyes
Who Passed Me in the Park Today

by Martin Golan

Your eyes were hazel, bright, and flecked with green
and you smiled a dazzling smile
as you passed me in the park today
Both of us crazy on this frigid morning
running over ice and snow
We bonded over that, didn’t we?
Just past us kids were sledding down the hill
high on scary speed and snowy tumbles
Dogs and dads bounding about
Did you think of your childhood, too
and realize like me
You were missing days you never had

Tell me now, be honest
Didn’t those kids break your heart?
Didn’t they bring up feelings you’d just as soon forget?
Oh passing woman with your passing beauty
Take me to a place where we can we let it all go
Fly down death-defying hills
with childhood’s reckless speed, its snowy tumbles
and land on a layer of cushioning snow
and look
to find
no past
behind us

Tell me, what but that do we seek?
to have no past and it still be “now”
As you padded by I was carried back
to an afternoon years ago when a woman buying flowers
glanced at me with such sorrow and longing
that I thought of her for days
She is the only perfect woman I have ever known
and I hope to God I never meet her

So go, finish your run
Head back home, shower and dress
Is another man there? I guess I’m okay with that
Is he flawed? Does he ignore you at dinner, bring work home
Never tell you his feelings
Only I am perfect in your eyes
Only I have never done anything wrong
So return to the mystery of your spectacular eyes
(that he never tells you are spectacular)
to fantasy and dream, knowing
There will never be anything as perfect as our love