Country Roads

for Christina 1996

It is vivid in my mind
that day.
We set out together
with little to say.
It was almost Thanksgiving,
or the day had just past –
doesn’t matter.
You and I walked down that road
to the end of worlds.
It wasn’t raining.
Not raindrops;
Not balloons.
The sky was bright.
You didn’t cry.
I didn’t know what to say,
or how to touch you,
or if I should.
I just waited.
As we walked back,
we sang about being taken home by a country road.
It meant something different to me than it did to you,
That sort of going home didn’t make sense to me then,
doesn’t now.
Even still,
as we walked,
I believed you,
with all my heart.