how you test me.
each better hour of my bitter days,
you arrange the torment of the seconds,
you essay the sunlight,
you deliver the silence
that reminds me of you.
I mistook you in the morning,
viewing through the glass a yellow car,
like daffodils, asleep along the lane,
as parallel with the curb
as you with my heart now run.
But you traded that car for another.
I upset the soft-blue basket with
the bread, the cheese, the jam
you would have favored.
I gather, spread, pretend
to honor fuzzy memory,
tasting the sweetness
you never offered.
I speak with the wind,
consult the rain,
conspire with the sky,
but everywhere and everything
has found you first.
Every little gesture,
each tender confidence,
the kindly world entire
knows your pity and your love
for me, and plays along.
