high school sweetheart

The dog pants in the warm night.

The children turn over and kick their covers off,
dreaming
of faster bikes and bigger playgrounds
and longer swimming days.

His wife snores in the bed
while he stares out into the night,
and remembers another face.

She had the prettiest hands.

And suddenly he remembers who he was back then with her,
Ball player, world by the tail

And the weight of his soft belly and his thickening thighs
Holds him fast to the earth

and brings him back to now with a snap.

She had the prettiest hands, he thinks with a smile,
and bends, kissing his wife
wondering how on earth he ended up so lucky.