[.jump-title]Horseneck Road After a Drenching Rain[.jump-title]

A golden morning
[.poemindent] the road lined[.poemindent]
[.poemindentmore] with waist-high timothy[.poemindentmore]

bronze in the searing sun
[.poemindent] ground cracked and hard[.poemindent]
[.poemindentmore] no rain for weeks.[.poemindentmore]

Buds brown without bloom
[.poemindent] trees droop[.poemindent]
[.poemindentmore] yet Queen Anne’s Lace,[.poemindentmore]

cornflowers and purple clover
[.poemindent] thrive amid all[.poemindent]
[.poemindentmore] that’s wilted and dying.[.poemindentmore]

Runoff from last night’s
[.poemindent] downpour[.poemindent]
[.poemindentmore] pools in dirt lanes[.poemindentmore]

that branch off
[.poemindent] the hot black road,[.poemindent]
[.poemindentmore] puddles of holy water.[.poemindentmore]

[.jump-title]Minha Querida (My Beloved)[.jump-title]

He had come home to die
in his own bed,
surrounded by his books and flowers,
his sweetheart by his side.

It was always understood
that she would die first,
it was non-negotiable, she’d said,
subject closed.

[.poemindent]Now, he was asking her to let him go,
[.poemindent] and she felt cheated and afraid.[.poemindent]
[.poemindent] Watching the night sky fill with stars,[.poemindent]
[.poemindent] he became the consoler,[.poemindent]
[.poemindent] his work nearly done, hers just beginning.[.poemindent][.poemindent]

[.poemindent]Bit by bit, he helped her remember
[.poemindent] their lifetime together, [.poemindent]
[.poemindent] spirited soulmates,[.poemindent]
[.poemindent] raising kids and traveling the world[.poemindent]
[.poemindent] mostly with laughter, always with love.[.poemindent][.poemindent]

With one last breath, he slipped away
while she slept beside him.
Later, she would awaken
to the scent of yellow roses.

[.jump-title]To see the stars as a blind man[.jump-title]

stand face tilted upward
beneath the black, sequined sky,
stretch out each arm, palms up,
with eyes closed and imagine a line

drawn from a single star
you are fixed on to first
your right hand, then your left,
filling each with starlight.

Feel the hum, the vibration,
between earth and inwardness,
and experience
perfect sight.