What Would've Been Your Wedding Day. Poem by Tara Schley

A child shields their ears from the auditory aggressions.
A lemon dandelion blooms to the children's excitation.
A ball of illumination.
A dazzling white tail.
A communal exhale.

Amazed expressions.
Blankets wet with evening dew.
Brilliant streaks of electric blue.
Babies wide eyed in mothers arms.
Amusing the crowd with their easy charms.

Popcorn and ice cream cones purchased at concessions.
Litter flowing over the trash cans.
Lovers with their proposal plans.
Ladies queue up for the washroom.
Pyrotechnical comets boom.

Yearning "I love you", confessions
Grey stratus clouds start to drizzle.
Grand finale: Bang! Burst! Crack! Pop! Flicker. Fizzle.
Gently sleeping babes in strollers stir.
You think of her…

The one that got away,
The way that you didn't stay,


- while your wife gathers up your possessions.

Tara Schley