Giving Up Memories

[Ayaan]

Reads a poem about a lover, she had years ago.
She's having trouble, she says, with the last stanza.
Her voice trembles, not from age, but passion.

The poem recounts how he would meet her
on a street corner in Athens, Greece,
about his smile, the way his pants fit tight,
how she floated when he held her.

Before her lips close on the last line,
she turns the paper over and is suddenly silent,
her eyes reflections of shadows.

"You know", she tells us, "I don?t really want him again.
It?s the fact that I can?t have him that bothers me."

"Write that down", we tell her! "Write it down!"