In the field along the riverbank
two empty white chairs
face one another near the water pump,
sunflowers already
scraggly and dried.
I snap a stem of Queen Anne’s Lace,
inhaling its late-summer scent
as I twirl the blossom
upon my lips
then, all over my face–
this blossom-memory of how it felt
the first time you kissed me so softly I cried.
Maureen O’Brien
Maureen O’Brien’s most recent books are the spiritual memoirs “What Was Lost: Seeking Refuge in the Psalms” and “Gather the Fragments”–both from Franciscan Media.