love and longing

i find

a stack of old postcards

at

the flea market.

a dozen or more

banded together.

beautiful

postcards

with

original art on the front.

landscapes,

buildings.

Amsterdam, Berlin.

Rome

and Paris.

and on the back sparse

lines

of love,

and longing.

soldiers at war about

to die.

into the air they went,

over seas

and land,

and now

strangely,

here they are,

resting in my hands.