Time Like a Hand

The hardware merchant reaches back for the past
through the young girl’s body
on a lonely road known as lovers’ lane,

while the relentless hand of time at his back
pushes him down the street of middle age
where the picnic fires go out
and the green banks fade,
where he is trapped behind the counter
with his washing machines
and annual conventions,

to watch the fat jovial days
vanish in the mirror of a grey-skinned man
dressed in old promises.