Retouched

Assailed by autumn bluster
we joined the growing cluster
impatient to ride horses
that had long since lost their luster

to elemental forces
as smells from many sources
compelled our guts to clamor
for a taste of sinful courses.

What happened to the glamour
that made your heartbeat hammer
with such a giddy feeling
it could make a poet stammer?

The faded paint is peeling
each curly shred revealing
the looping ever after
that was once so damn appealing

but then I hear his laughter
refurbish every rafter
and suddenly the wonder
redefines a drab hereafter.