I went for an evening walk on Marine Drive with an old friend: we were rudely separated by some young vigilantes who objected to middle-aged lovers holding hands. The very long sentence in the second part is deliberate, to create that feeling of making the moment last....
SMOKE
If you smell smoke in her hair, will you
Think of swept-up leaves burning, sending
Blue spires into the morning sky?
Or will you remember that she
Had just passed the peanut vendor
Wafting smoke over his roasted wares
To keep them warm, and that this was
An evening walk along the seawall
When she bought peanuts
And stood in the thin smoke
While she paid for them, and then
Walked on, crunching, and sometimes
Offered a few to you in her hand
As to a horse, and you longed, longed
To kiss her palm, and could only inhale
The smell of the smoke in her hair
As you walked, because of a bye-law
That says you may not kiss, may not sit
Facing the sea, may not hold hands,
May only walk together, and eat peanuts
Slowly, one, or even half at a time,
To make them, and this moment,
Last a little longer.
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