Young people sitting

Streaked with a green patina of tears

accrued over years of open scrutiny

they sit not on a pedestal

in a celebrated square

but on low stools, by a leafy lakeside

walkway, leaning into each other’s spaces

her hands clasped in front seeming

to hold the secret of their bond

or its dissolution

his eyes draw down from a hand-cradled

face, perhaps not grasping

while hers attend unblinking

engaged, oblivious to the summer stream

of passing couples, walking

or cycling or wandering free.