Locket, Part One

The logs were tucked into the woodpile
You frozen in place, holding the axe
Like the hunter who saved children

One night you called so far
I heard the inner stirrings of how
Your life was leading

That chance that took me out of
School, down the driveway, into
The warmth of home

When I entered I didn’t know
Leaving would be permanent
I wonder still how you plucked
Me in too, the in between

The simple elements
To comb and shave
The preparations guiding you
And letting me go
On our terms

I placed in me that locket
Opening again and again