Returning Home, Wondering if you Feel the Same

you were my ice cream joy
half sugar half symbolism
my heart breathing in
the easy lines of your smile

such joys are made to melt away
to dissolve like innocence
but we stood: together,
destinations alike

and you were the fleeting soul
of every numbered side street
counting down to you; always
to you, always to us. For now,

you are my whiskey joy
the pain I choose to endure
exchanged for those I cannot
distilling years of careful intent

into a young man, empty eyes
and an empty bottle screaming
down the highway, counting,
subtracting every mile marker

from the impossible sum of separation;
this love does not shine brightly enough--
I cannot see it through the mist-- but it is
my Mecca; perhaps enlightenment comes

on arrival. And if I drew
a picture of all happiness
even now I would draw your face
for you, dear, have been all my joys