Seventy Years Before by Romella Kitchens

	Seventy Years Before
An earring falls from a pear tree		the gift of moments is within this
	Old man, what say you?
The earring was from a maiden		a slight girl who climbed the tree
	In what century was your longing?
She climbed to meet her lover.		You were young then, too.
The earring was lost in a kiss.	We cling to our “historical” limbs.	Her skin was  sun-hued
She came the next day		you left not to be found
	Old man, was your fear in “more”?
A century later the earring falls		a woman looks over a great wall
A woman clasps it  as if…	To hold on is to know…	yet, you gather yellow pears and…
	Go home.

Romella Kitchens has had poetry published in Iodine Poetry Review, The California Quarterly, Chiron Review, Lilliput Review, Ship Of Fools and others. She has four published chapbooks. The latest chapbook was published by Pudding House Press in April of 2009 and is titled: “The Red Covered Bridge.”