Since Hanna Moved Away

(Apple Picking, watercolor by Winslow Homer, 1836-1910,
American artist)

It’s a new month.
    
In the next few days, we finish our exploration of Philia or friendship. Then, for the rest of August, we look at poems about Eros or the kind of love which lovers are “in,” as C. S. Lewis described it.

SINCE HANNA MOVED AWAY

The tires on my bike are flat.
The sky is grouchy gray.
At least it sure feels like that
Since Hanna moved away.

Chocolate ice cream tastes like prunes.
December’s come to stay.
They’ve taken back the Mays and Junes
Since Hanna moved away.

Flowers smell like halibut.
Velvet feels like hay.
Every handsome dog’s a mutt
Since Hanna moved away.

Nothing’s fun to laugh about.
Nothing’s fun to play.
They call me, but I won’t come out
Since Hanna moved away.

~ Judith Viorst, born 1931, American writer, journalist, and poet