Unrequited Lover

"A kiss that is never tasted,
is forever and ever wasted."
---Billie Holiday

He pined for her like a forest pines for trees
after a forest fire
the bears bunch up
the nutty squirrels
sing tangled up in blue
park rangers smeared in ash
a lone tree ring
hanging on to the fantasy
like an unrequited lover
who has chased a woman
from youth to age
and come up empty-handed
the flask full of foolishness.