the end of easy things

I was always curious
about the beginning of things
-- did it happen
all at once?
did it happen
at all?

and once I heard you laugh
I knew
I would never
laugh again
not with all of that
solid competition

that was the end
the end of easy things
of walks by brooks
by moon
by memory

and I felt the beginning
had indeed begun,
and that I would never
ask those foolish
questions again