A cloud above

 The picture on the shelf-
front and centered tonight-
as a warm bath of memories
fills the cozy dining room.

With friends old and new,
tonight's laughter trims ragged edges and unfinished sides.

Yet I see
the pause that lingers in the wayward glance
the smile a tad  short
and the small silences that reveal
a cloud above your views of the world

It is a world that brought you from one side of the globe
and him from the other
to meet and love in the most unlikely coincidence
like raindrops upon the sea

and now, the picture, the smiling child
the affliction, and the sadness
that explains your goodness and his
and bonds that speak of forever

when love is impossible on the skin and
inescapable deep within and so full
that it simply overwhelms

the heart within the heart