Past Performance

[busker]

Past Performance is not Indicative of Future Gains
 
I think of you on the rampart
standing face to the wind
and remember
your hair, how you tucked it,
your other hand laid against the stone.
 
I remember the stone
laid a thousand years unmoved  .... 'thousand years' cliche
against sea and wind, even time,  .... 'time' is at odds with the otherwise concrete (pardon the pun) descriptions
but for the lichen you touched; 
 
how the years can etch a story  
subtle as lichen on stone,  
beautiful as the wrinkle 
at the corner of your eyes.
A story I watched 
as each line was written.  ... on their own, the first three lines sound cliched, but they all come together quite well in the final two lines, like magic
 
That day we walked in the old city
held within the hug of narrow streets
each winding bringing a new horizon.
 
It’s a wonder how far
we travelled without
getting lost in the years
of those winding streets given  ... winding streets as a metaphor for life is predictable, but it works here
 
your early riser penchant
for productivity; making
honey-do lists ignored-
me, usefully idle
 
on the patio content   ... it's a beautiful stretch from 'early riser' to this point as the poem pivots
to imagine its denizens 
courtiers of the sun’s kingdom,  ... the last two lines don't do it for me
contemplating
 
why the sea broods
always wanting
more of the land.  ... beautiful
Every day 
 
I read our story
like braille, my fingertips
lightly tracing our lines
knowing this life of ours
 
has never been anything 
more than a long good-bye.  ... beautiful