—THE SUN CAN BE MISLEADING

  

Valediction

I draw a circle

around nothing

and claim it,

let the sadness

rope me back.

We’re a perfect

couple after all,

black on black,

slack as a noose

under a broken bulb,

ladder with a rickety step

and sideways gait. 

No one can find us

if no one is looking. 

Even the shadows

seem bewildered. 

Yesterday is a blemish

fading under sun strokes

we’ll never see

while the spiders here

spin eternal,

perfecting their knitting

with tarps of

gossamer hope.