The second poem in the Moment Poetry collection is ‘A Cottage in Nova Scotia’ by Carter Vance.

I picture us one day,
distant in time
(just past in feeling),
at a cottage in Nova Scotia.

When we’ve both gone graying,
dulled in spectrums seen, heard,
but still reach for each other
as instinct in morning light.

And you smile still like it was
clutching nervous hands on bachelor apartment
couches, like it was
the first pulses of mine

You felt quicken through skin;
amazed at how you transform me,
make it all go rushing,
so unlike gentle dock waves.

I picture us dancing
in sock feet on kitchen linoleum
to beats that took us a flutter
between frying pan handles, one old night.

I picture myself,
face lined from a lifetime’s
laughing at the
goodness we took chances

On one day (far gone,
held close for feeling);
compelled enough to drop
wary glances for loving looks.

I picture us reading over
news of the day as sun
streams off wood grain panel
and we look back on

All years spent in tangles
of arms, swelling of
breath as we bridged the
few inches left between us.

I picture us in a cottage
in Nova Scotia, saying same
soft spoken phrases we do now,
but knowing them to have held

Steadfast, true.