Seconds
You came to the beach looking for me
and found me stretched out by the shore
covered in moon. Then, you spread over me,
the contour of your body so familiar on mine.
The last time you slept on me - I was whole.
It was the night we knocked down
the plastic statue of the virgin Mary
from the nightstand while we wrestled,
nostrils flashing. Our bodies, zodiac charts
simply decoded by fast unmeasured breaths.
My skin dripped rain. Your voice a drumbeat.
Back then you never came home late.
Tonight, half buried in me, you ask forgiveness
praying the stars chart a path back to the room
where the virgin broke. The tide stammering
on the rocks, which slowly erode.
It is too late for us, my body is proof:
Sink your fingers in and try to hold me.
The sand beneath you, will pour from your fist,
each fine granule, a second swallowed by the hourglass.
DQ 3/8/9
