and so it’s

winter here you

say as

you stammer

down the

stairs

can’t you

tell by

the way the

birds hold

their breath

as they fall from

a blanket of

clouds  where you

nest hugely like

daybreak on

the face of

a frozen lake. 

and so it’s spring

as you

show me

how to fly

as if

mortality

is nobody’s

business but

my own.  

when we

find ourselves

in record

heat  still I

reach inside

those parts of

you  lean

from night like

a sparrow

filthy with rain  and

carry your scent from

branch to

branch all summer long.