For Leo Lionni

I painted my fingernails with
sunshine and regality
I thought of you
and serendipity

they spoke of finances
and frugality
in hushed tones, on the granite tiles
warmed with our body heat
and our cashmere socks

I recalled happier times,
though I'm happy in the present,
but I stored these cheerful thoughts
like Frederick, saving steadily for winter

but the colder months wane
as our amity grows,
trust and truth spilling out of petri dishes,
as the yellow slime mold
overtakes the biology room
or platonic love blooms in places
where other, lesser plants could not find headway
in the hardened soil

swing away