In a bedroom dark
the outline of our window
lies there on the quilt
perfectly etched in moonlight

a portal to another world
I’m certain

as I sidle a-rump over
drop myself into its panes
and free fall
into the down of time

I see you there on the other side
peering through the glass
above me, only stars
have had this vantage

love’s a sill
on which I rest
between bouts
of such rapid descent

entangled
in velvet curtain stays
you used to draw
the light in

On my side it’s cold
but I’m too far away
for my breath to fog
the glass

Dashed hopes
for finger-traced hearts
and comic book Eros

You recede
you’re a constellation
whose shape takes form more clearly
as distance grows between us

I can see you now
the epitome of what
you’ve purported to be
all along

My love, my discovery
so I believe I’ve the right
– perhaps I’m even obliged –
to name you

The slightest tear in the moonlight
leaves jagged cracks
with each daybreak I lose forever
my best and only way back

Chagall 2013/2019