Some cages are built from the inside out.

Prologue:

As classmates a young co-ed and a late-to-college guy in his mid-twenties began the same program of literary studies together. From the outset it was clear that they shared a strong mutual attraction. However, his married with a young child status posed a large obstacle to any notions of their entering into a romance. Over the course of several long and unusually candid conversations, the pair eventually resolved to be friends of the not too close kind since neither wanted to be pegged as pathetically unrequited. For the next three years they observed and participated in each other's intellectual development. Nonetheless, with very like minds and frequent daily proximity, their feelings for one another bred an increasingly irresistible tension. During the final semester of their schooling, with certain separation looming, the two relented and engaged in an affair that they vowed would end with graduation. Remarkably, despite severe heartbreak, they both managed to honor their pact with grace and following commencement went their independent ways . The end of the couple's liaison was the impetus for the accompanying piece. 

in the delphic depths

of this new moon past

a shiver

nibbled at my spine

and told me in its chilling way

today would end your coming

we have only now

to bundle our belonging

against an aged autumn's breath

that soon

shall have its way with us

as leaves flung 'cross the grass

cornered by sunlight

half asleep

curling up inside my dreams

when first you lingered at the rail

so swollen in your youth

and sleek about your look

something sailed

between us then

that tugged the hairs around my neck

enough to stiffen every muscle tight

with blood pound from a heart

taken by surprise

days on end

it was your custom

to stand beneath the oak

watching as I paced

knowing everything

knowing nothing at all

and odd evenings

after all had left

to reach between the bars

with stroking hands

that felt like freedom

on my face

everywhere

branches scrape

against the rolling sky

until a sudden stillness

lets your racing footsteps

trail into the night

the globes along the walk

wear their frosted rainbows

shimmering in the icy air

as the creature sways

in rhythm

with the stars

Epilogue:

A little over a year after their parting, the once lovers crossed paths by sheer happenstance. Each freely admitted to sorely missing their former relationship. So they promised one another, come what may, to maintain their exceptional connection. Over the span of the next thirty-seven years they exchanged letters, eventually e-mails and now and then a few telephone conversations. She was married through thirty-four of those years until her husband unexpectedly died. After his passing, for whatever reason, there came no further word. 

https://youtu.be/mkvd8OalcT0