We, unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight
live coiled in shells of loneliness
until love leaves its high holy temple

Give me your hand
Make room for me
to lead and follow

There is no warning rattle at the door
nor heavy feet to stomp the foyer boards.
Safe in the dark prison, I know that

That man over there say
a woman needs to be helped into carriages
and lifted over ditches

Lying, thinking
Last night
How to find my soul a home

Curtains forcing their will
against the wind,
children sleep,

The eye follows, the land
Slips upward, creases down, forms
The gentle buttocks of a young

The highway is full of big cars
going nowhere fast
And folks is smoking anything that'll burn

I note the obvious differences
in the human family.
Some of us are serious,

The free bird leaps
on the back of the win
and floats downstream

There are some nights when
sleep plays coy,
aloof and disdainful.

We were entwined in red rings
Of blood and loneliness before
The first snows fell

Shadows on the wall
Noises down the hall
Life doesn’t frighten me at all

When I was young, I used to
Watch behind the curtains
As men walked up and down the street. Wino men, old