Accidentally Finding Aglaia Poem by Uriah Hamilton

I was startled and happy
Accidentally Finding Aglaia
On Ushakov Avenue
Near the coffee shop
On the summery day
After not having seen her
For several years
That witnessed my divorce
As well as other dramatic downfalls
Like the loss of friends
Through tragic ends.

She reminded me of our youth
On Dnipro beaches
Swimming in the sunlight
And kissing in the sand
As children laughed at us
And then later holdings hands
Nears St. Catherine’s Cathedral
Where her mother wed.

Oh, to be with her again
In Askania-Nova Park
Where the Russian flowers smile
On pleasant paths of romance
And dreams make love
In the perfumed afternoon.

If I could only return
To the Opera House
Where we sat in awe
With ecstasy in our hearts
And listened and watched
Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin
And I intoxicatingly imbibed
The fragrance of her hair!

Marriage was in store
For both of us
But to acquaintances
That were never intended
To be our soul mates
For the duration
Of our spiritual journey!
I lost her somehow
On a college street
And never found her again until now.

Is she still with
A husband of passionless embraces?
Does the marriage persist
For the sake of children?
Dare I seek to push aside her hair
And kiss the nape of her neck?
I myself have nothing left to protect
But perhaps her family has more meaning
Than the feelings I desire to retrace,
More importance of survival
Than the emotions I seek to revive.

How does a man know
When to pursue a love of destiny
Or to refrain for the sake
Of moral philosophy?
Should one let go a second time
What he should have kept
From the beginning?
Will my darkness lead
To perpetual gloom
If I shrug my shoulders and allow her to walk away
Down Ushakov Avenue?