waiting one

nothing impresses me more
than a man who knows how to wait
because i am not
a patient woman
i know conviction grows on trees
but grafting takes too long
and sometimes doesn’t work

things torn and mended
are the lovelier for being one alone
the breeze asserts itself
how long you stood there
i don’t know
these places where i am
are not unbeautiful

the sum of slow ascent is oblivious
but this timely summit yours and waking
how ephemerality was arranged
coffee cups between us
on slow morns
these nights are disorderly and
there is no place
in this space
for me the way my presence demands
more than it requires

expand
accept your unrestraint
if you should unwittingly collect
unrequired evidence
that my reverie is playing at
the corners of your mouth and
the near distance of your gaze
flickering like truth
be certain
you return before me, quietly
i’ll come twenty minutes late
or never at all

inertia like revolving doors in winter
not to find you;
and i can’t think how we’d make a meet
of two passersby
if ever we should try
i’ve been the breeze long enough to know
we oughtn’t

~ by krgaskins on April 6, 2009.