Did it ever really go down?
That time on the ice-rink
in China?
Maybe the place was up
near Chengdu?
Or still in Kunming?
We took a bus near 9pm,
right?
Then we walked the
suburbs
and finally found the
empty indoor rink
as the sun collapsed on
us.
It sounds all wrong
and I’ve wondered
why there are no photos
of those hours
or why we’ve not spoken
of it since.
But I’m sure that once on
our China trip
we skated some lonely
ice-rink
late through the night
in a neighbourhood to the
south of the country.
I have this one hazy
memory
of you dressed in black:
you skate in circles at
some point
then slowly draw near.
We stumble and embrace,
perhaps for the final
time
before the decay.
Our damned decay.
Up till then,
we must not have even
known decay.
We were but 22
—young love in a strange
arena
in a part of the world
that already seemed
unreal.
Or perhaps we never loved
each other.
Perhaps we were far too
young to.
Perhaps there was no such
ice-rink.
But I think there was
and I feel my mind is
struggling to recall it
for there are some things
only the heart can
remember.
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