There was a moment when I thought of you, and
I longed for water. Two black pitchers
laid on the ground in the shadow
of what must have been an old well.
Their two mouths were crusted
with the last snowfall’s ice.
Their mouths like two ovals
learning how to kiss
a forgotten earth. We became like those pitchers,
you and I—like dusty leaves, turning over
and under in brittle circles. We became
like the seasons, passing time. We waited
on vacant porches, shadowed backyards,
and counted neighboring porch lights:
some turned off, late in the evening; some flickering
like dying fireflies; some left to drown
in a new dawn, somewhere down
in the summer passage.