I run the river bank through lilies & lavender & rest against the weeping
willow &
remember you speaking of a time in your childhood when there were geese
& ducks & pigeons &
you fed them by hand & the sun cast your shadow long in those days &
when the old man died you left &
came here & fashioned a boat & we met on a Sunday & I swam out to test
your resolve &
you threw me a buoy & reeled me in. It was different then but not today –
when I see your body snared in the willow’s roots / I know there will be no end . . .