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]