the girl beside me

has finally gone

she was as you have been

face like a boy’s

a child made of alabaster, stone

we passed red river beds, industry and oil

without speaking; we never spoke

and now I’m left to say

how beautiful those trees are

yellow streaming down

one upon the other leaning

heavy into one another’s limbs.

I couldn’t

take you as I wanted

all those mornings;

slept away.

I think of you

wrestling with others

your motion,

weight shifting

and a look in your eyes I have not seen.

This is not the first time I have passed these trees along the highway.

Or a girl like this, hands bare and empty.

But notice:

what beauty

how we lay

our arms brace

within without,

each body bent below

each

in ways the other.

##

by Shannon Nissa Bailey Powers

from Shannon’s iBook