Since You Were Away

But stay with me in rain
In a small space

Where trees outside
Hide the window
From prying eyes

And twigs and branches
Are my curtain
In early winter

When light’s uncertain
And the spaces
Inside me
Grow larger

You can fill them
But don’t,
And I could beg you
But won’t

I don’t mind
The gray solemnity
Of a storm
That’s turned
Its back on me

Left me homeless
On a street corner
With the wind

Nothing
To grasp
But tiny whisperings
Of rain

The slow decay
Of autumn’s corpse
Blood staining
The lake…

This and so much more
Has left me torn
Without words

And you ask
How was my day?

Well I could tell you—
But You wouldn’t understand

So I simply say

Nothing happened
Since you were away.