Out the window

Her heart softens over the hedgerows

And she tells him less than she feels

Between streetlights flashing warm and cold

The empty highways through the snow

Months wherein her mouth has closed

She paints the smoking pines, alone

 

 

Separately

He audits life with his mother

And plays cards with his father

Separately

 

He leaned in for a kiss

On the cheek, a crossette

To seal her answer

 

He never imagined they would become

Like his father and his mother

Cameo Shadow

Forsake me, but I shall keep

A cameo onyx and silver

Nestled among sheets

In my oaken chest

Then your shadow will not stray

From the foot of my bed, you

With your white face

And charcoal brow

Only remember me in donning

Your gown like a night river

And whisper in passing

A word for me

Yesterdays

I smelled the heartache coming

When I saw her smiles

Becoming yesterdays

Then I scrambled

Hands like a sieve

To rest

Fine and mirthful as he was

To rest I laid him, in the grass

That grew always brightest

And farthest from me

In lathes of cobalt

The clouds fell and he subsided

Pinioned dreams and reproaches

Darkening dark eyes

Of a kind, and all too easy were we

Though I was scarce as solid

As a passing fog, allowing the invention

Of wings and grace and gentle nimbus

Truly, I was never so good withal

And every joy furnished gems of shame

Bedecking the grass that grew

Brightest and farthest from me