SOMETHING AFTER BORROWED

The first time you left for all of my wanting too much

I waited

as long as I could

before I filled the shoebox with

our wedding,

our home in Indiana,

              and our

daughter with

mismatched eyes.

I buried

it

all

in the empty

field

that would soon become a large and busy gas station

across the street from the restaurant

            where we’d had our first awkward date that

ended with us stumble-kissed and full of sunrises.

Our girl is 5 years old

when you come back and ask

for her.

I can no more resurrect

the mother hunger in me

than I can reach thru the concrete

and pull

her

out for you now.