V: Awaking

After a stormy night
(when the rain made streaks
against the long windows
and a face of blackness blotted out
the street and garden)
we still were full of talk
and much too vivid yet for sleep.
So we decided we'd find some place for breakfast,
some place to talk and eat and let the conversation
live out to its natural end.
Who would believe this city could be so still
with only the birds and us
to break the silence?
Stepping out of the park we saw
the broad road extend on either side
like sleeping arms,
open, peopless
and the buildings stiff and tall,
the long rays of the sun
turning their windows to a flashing gaze.
The evening was undone, poured
like an open stream
into all this newness.
Like the snarl of high-pitched woodwinds
scraping across the strings
a taxi squealed around the corner.
We felt a wind behind us from the park.
So on we went and stayed together
until the day was no longer ours.