"Lavender All Over Again"

I see you in your backyard's lavender,

post-lunch doze, dreaming someone

you brought home last week who blurs

to hummingbirds that fan your ears.

Lavender buds pilled your sweatshirt

in the restaurant garden you preferred,

where we ate, gossiped, laughed,

and downed a sizable carafe.

You ate experience whole,

sweetest when you lost control.

I see you springing from your gluey sleep

while foggy shade rolls toward your seat.

You liked to party hard, still in your prime

way past your prime, Give me wine wine wine

all the time time time, stomped in punk dives'

purple light, sweating, fists pumped high...

Ardent life burned your heart and hands.

You kept dancing until you could barely stand.

In memory of Thom Gunn