I knew you

I cynically say that I knew you,
As if I believed that I could capture the radiance of what will come,
And hold it against the darkness.

"I know you", I joked,
On that long lackadaisical afternoon our bodies glistening,
baking in the lustrious, overexposed innocence.

We stood before the child whose lackadaisical eyes blurred us into one
His belly swollen, as if to make room for the coffin bearing a world never to come.
We sipped lattes and nibbled on reduced fat coffee cake.
You said, "I didn't know", but you did.

You look away, bobbing your head to Bob Dylan and the Dixie Chicks, with a skip in your step as if to say, "happiness is a delicate matter. One must be smart and lucky to obtain it. The only inevitablilty is that it will be lost".

"I have known you", I agreed. Nodding my head and watching your blissful departure from the corner of my eye.

"Yes, once", you say crushing your paper coffee cup, the black liquid slopping over your wrist and forearm. It burns.

After the reticence, choose your words carefully.