Garnet Necklace

Salsburag, Austria


Garnet Necklace
By Tara Bradford

I find the poem you wrote long ago,
the lines that inflamed my senses
and changed everything
and nothing.


An old spice cabinet
guarding secrets beckons.
Inside a hidden compartment
a heart-shaped box
keeps your gift safe:
the elegant necklace of garnets,
its delicate gold chain tied in knots.


It whispers of dinner at Vertigo
on shaky ground.
The dusky garnets matched the merlot
at The Redwood Room,
where Gustav Klimt paintings
shimmered in the soft light,
jazz murmured like a fever
and your hand clasped mine.


Nights in the fierce August heat
few words were spoken
but everything was said,
forging an invisible bond.
Despite the miles keeping us apart
and time and circumstance
too complicated to fathom,
the heart remembers.


Now I try to untangle
the fine knots that have intertwined.
No matter how hard I tug,
the strands won't loosen;
the links are too strong.
Like the tapestry of you and me:
such an intricate and complex weave;
impossible to unravel.

Tara Bradford