Metallic slam on a moonless night
A short visit and so we departed.
A short year with many long
days
A long phone call with many pauses.
It was gesture’s code
we were used to using, we were
awkward without it.
Over the phone: knocking heard
at a door in another country.
Here it’s tonight: there tomorrow.
A vast world we used to think small.
That we knew everyone who mattered.
Firefly flicker. Metallic slam. A moonless night. Too dark
for gesture.
But it was gesture’s code we were used to.
Might need again. Urgent
hold-off or beckon.
Fierce supplication. One finger pointing: “Thither.”
Palms flung upward: “What now?”
Hand slicing the air or across the throat.
A long wave to the departing.
2003