...and it was
without breath or fear or love
  they know 
     I suppose,
as if gliding down
while air shifted,sullen,heavy
under velvet skies


too far
   too long
      too late
     ... still it's early
   grasses glistening
   warm earth and fields
   shallow trails, shadows
always the clock and pen
just alloy and circuitry
no time to turn
     time, time to start again
   to feel again
  (the air, moist--skin, cool)
and later her dry palms
      forever dusk, always

     but there's always spring
   if the water's dark
         it won't be easy
and she turned away
as fields roll in the sunlight

              please, now!
    softly, softly
...with little care or gesture

    like a new green leaf

the sky's violent blue

with graceful line of flight

             it's so simple...
                       softly
    when we're there
             smooth, like sand
    it's over
I know it's over
    I suppose, she said
        the words were brittle