8.21.2003

Yet another old sonnet from Island Road:


         28


near Norwich, by the Thames




Trees merge with the darkness coral, camouflaged
above the river, quiet, smooth and ceaseless.
Hidden by nightfall, stars, arranged
in the heavens, drift reflected there.


You tugged your sweater close around your dress
& let me wrap an arm across your shoulder as
the last of summer pulled us both downstream,
so adamant, so casual, unvarying, and calm.


Those fingers lifted to my shivering lips
were hidden in the darkness too & now
my heartbeat mimics you
& stained with all this darkness, steps
toward some anonymous London afterlife,
incognito (the ache of universal grief).



[p.s. that's Norwich, CT]

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