there are times

there are times
when nothing happens
and the day stretches
in heat to the horizon
like a flat and unrippled sea

there are currents, eddies,
I feel them swirl my feet
	as we wait
	as we wait

our platinum rings
are our willing bonds:
of love, of fidelity
to hope and the future

but the liquid of our lives
could seep from you
in mercury
in liquid metal
in hot fluid bitter on the tongue

you are calm, indolent,
stretching on the bed like
a summer's day - you
shrug it away, non-
believer in Fate

and so we wait
this is how we wait

in the heat of June
and no breath, the lungs
ache for a cool gust

of moist wind from the North
bringing a touch of ice
to the skin as our hairs rise

but there is no mercy in these
blue skies.  Tomorrow is Friday,
unalarmed, a day, I hope,
when nothing happens

and the hours stretch
hot to the horizon
like a flat, unrippled sea


Collected Works
Return to Collections all
next poem