Fragments of a Past July

[Tim J Brennan]

The Odyssey travels along
a faint vein of dust, its lights

picking out fields or farmhouses,
other anonymous bends, the occasional

punctuation of white lettered mail
boxes. And next to me

in the darkness, I see you lean
your forehead against the glass,

looking out into the various bones
of stalks or low growing beans.

This is not a question of symmetry:
I dream about us out there also,

beneath one dark tree we glimpsed
during a different long night drive,

another sudden pool of light, you waiting,
face upturned. There was a slight sound

of leaves rustling, so slight, so serious,
and of our resting in the long, cool grass.

[Colm Roe]

 And next to me

in the darkness, I see you lean
your forehead against the glass,

looking out into the various bones

This is not a question of symmetry:
I dream about us out there also,

beneath one dark tree we glimpsed
during a different long night drive,

another sudden pool of light, you waiting,
face upturned. There was a slight sound

of leaves rustling, so slight, so serious,
and of our resting in the long, cool grass.

Once again I'm reading a few different scenarios here. 'Fragments' in the title, her 'forehead against the glass' (something I associate with despair), 'various bones' and 'so serious' lead me to imagine a broken relationship. 
I also can read it as the N being dead; a spirit still connected to his partner. 
The other more obvious one is a relationship that's simply cooled over the years.
Either way, it's a very enjoyable read.
 

[Tim J Brennan]

 And next to me

in the darkness, I see you lean
your forehead against the glass,

looking out into the various bones

This is not a question of symmetry:
I dream about us out there also,

beneath one dark tree we glimpsed
during a different long night drive,

another sudden pool of light, you waiting,
face upturned. There was a slight sound

of leaves rustling, so slight, so serious,
and of our resting in the long, cool grass.

Once again I'm reading a few different scenarios here. 'Fragments' in the title, her 'forehead against the glass' (something I associate with despair), 'various bones' and 'so serious' lead me to imagine a broken relationship. 
I also can read it as the N being dead; a spirit still connected to his partner. 
The other more obvious one is a relationship that's simply cooled over the years.
Either way, it's a very enjoyable read.
 

I am very happy there are multiple scenarios for you, Colm. If a poem is so transparent that it "must" be read this way or the highway, it's not the poem it thinks it is.

Thank you.