do you remember

that magical night—

the laughing, leaping cow

kicking her heels high

over the moon—

dog couldn't stop laughing,

while you and I

played a merry tune,

a down-east jig,

the dish and the spoon

spinning and whirling

across the green,

dancing till dawn

but dish and spoon,

they up and left us,

no forwarding address,

left us there in the stark light

of morning-after,

cow nursing a sore leg

from a rough landing,

dog holding her aching sides—

if only we had known, then,

that the good times may not last

and the gang won't all be here

forever and a day, like we imagined

once upon a golden moon

once upon a time