Paul Ilechko is a British American poet and occasional songwriter who lives with his partner in Lambertville, NJ. His work has appeared in many journals, including The Night Heron Barks, Tampa Review, Iron Horse Literary Review, Stirring, and The Inflectionist Review. He has also published several chapbooks. 

Asking You to Dance

Once in the distant past I asked you to dance
the youthful flame still twisting my blood into
the shape of anguish     but today I slide into
a paler fear of emptiness     color washed out
into a dimly smoldering recollection     trying
not to forget those days of brilliance     lost
in the chlorophyll foliage of early summer
before memory faltered     traversing the endless
carpet of hotel corridors     dragging luggage
from airport to taxi     fighting an imaginary
battle with a foe who never existed     even
through the depths of winter     we flew our
flags     even if I no longer remember why
or how     I could be sucked into such arbitrary
conflict     a life of ennui pitched as adventure
a life of limits that could shrink an ocean to
the boundaries of a pond     a life of quiet
misery     and the disappearance of the sublime
and then the sudden knowledge that there was
nothing I wanted more than to dance with you.