“Shared Illusions”

Sam Hedrian

It takes a lifetime to forget two months

That recontextualized every past and future smile

Thanks to the staying power

Of a momentarily shared illusion.

 

To love once is a miracle,

To love twice is a lie

Or at least so I thought

When I looked for your replacement.

 

Couldn’t escape the back seat of that Uber

Where you buried your head in my shoulder

And sang along to the radio

While I thanked God for seemingly answered prayers.

 

If it wasn’t true then

It couldn’t be true again;

Romance is a dance

At a STEM school of left-footed math nerds.

 

Or there’s Option B:

I liked you and you liked me

And being fond of exaggeration,

We decided to call it love.

 

Which means there’s hope we’re both still free

To repeat a whispered “Finally”

In the back seat of an Uber

With a miracle lying beside us.