He carried thousands of seashells
in the tentacle grip of his thick curls
The remnants of former lives
of myriad minuscule sea creatures
He left hints of the sand and sea
As he came, as he went
A speck of red seaweed lingering
on the white tile shower wall
…..
We were the couple from Knossos
He: strong and dark
Me: pale and bare breasted
Our footsteps criss-crossing the sand
Between our rocky perch
The spot we examined a jelly fish
The sheltered area where we lay naked
He tied my hair on top of my head
His eyes meeting mine
“You have so much hair”
I tied his mane in a matching topknot
Using my rubber band for him
Using his for me
His band lived intertwined with my hair
Then, around my wrist
Into the ocean’s salt
Through the cleanse of many showers
Surely he didn’t notice the difference
His versus mine
Mine versus his
But I, I treasured what was once his
Was now mine
It held strands of his being
It carried precious salt and sand
After many moments lived
In his absence
save for the memory
That lived on
In my hair, on my wrist
I forced that memory into the mix
with the myriad many identical hair bands
Never to by idolized again
And yet, weeks later
Reunited in another land
We were once again the couple from Knossos
The bronze of my skin catching up to his
I asked to borrow a band for my hair
Reaching, smiling, for the one on his wrist
“In fact,” he said
“It belongs to you”