Is it sweeter when you don’t know
    it’s the last time?

When you kiss a cheek,
    shake a hand,
        gather at a crowded bar and
            cheers for some milestone?

If you knew,
    would you try harder

to hold onto that moment
in all its little details?

The way someone’s lips taste at dusk
    or the feel of fingers sliding across your palm,
        a hug right against your chest
            tears running down your cheeks,

and all these things singing into your memory
golden harmonies of “if I’d only known.”

But we rarely ever do.