But having braked all the way to the floor of the valley
it dawned on us the slope we’d have to climb
and it was night, you on the back of my bike

We trusted no one so he came
along that first dinner and felt
or inferred the pile under footfalls

There’s nothing on earth like an accident
to put you in touch with time⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠—time then speaks
in all but words, your mother tongue, it croons

These girls riding bareback on their palominos down the slopes
what do they know, I thought

Montaigne was right, without the body’s meddling love
is more thrilling.
Yet from the start in elementary what she did

The dwarf maple caught my attention
in an ominous way, its purple,
its deep purple leaves shredded gloves 

Somewhere between silversmith and potter
he demonstrated how he works, with his wheel
pulling the material in and shaving it away into a hole in the center

I sensed you were about to say
Do you know how much I’ve loved you and I said, Oddly yes
but have been baffled as to why

Humans are the animals
with speech who let all of his manuscripts
go poof.

He’d like to be at one with his new self
but memories sit in him like eyes.