5.28.2008

You Fell at Night,


and by the time I found you
the sun had dried up everything
but your soft petals
in a heap on the patio
with the broken glass

no one heard, no one looked
out the window to you
or else you would have been
swept up and thrown out
recollected and replaced
on display, and I would
never notice until someone came
home to tell me what I'd missed

but I found you, and came to you
and in the chill air the sun
felt good on my goosebumps
while I gathered you into my hand
to shake the glass from your stems

as I carried you in you cried
petals all over the carpet,
all the way to the sink
where I put you in
a tall glass of water

and when I carried you back
to your place on the patio
careful not to spill
and gathered up your petals
from the floor to the sink
I only had a little trouble
washing them down the garbage disposal