Cupid's bow

 

Cupid’s bow 

 

the day we never meet

everything carried on as usual

 

water swirling down a sink

a sun setting to rise again

 

in the space between there were stars crossing

doing their best   the competition fierce

 

and you looked up and I looked up

facing the same sky   framing

 

constellations already named and mapped

indifferent for millennia   just the light travelling

 

and the cosmic dust falling and burning

and all those wishes   all those fishes

 

in the sea swimming   swimming

to futures   to you and to me

 

oceans apart   the flight of thought   blowing a kiss

arrows to the heart   skimming the air     falling short

spoor

 

spoor  

 

then there’s the walk

the pulling on of the boots

the tightening and tying of the laces

the tracks they’ll leave in forest

the pattern of the tread

the length of the stride

the measure of the gait

traces in the soil   in the snow

of himself and other animals

somewhere to be    somewhere to go

…

then the pulling off of the boots

of the trick of perspective in the forest

like something approaching absence

and all that’s left

is the dirt on his hands

the sweat in his armpits

the stains upon the carpet

the snow melting to pool on the floor

in the distance from his chair to the door