this gray afternoon
we walked circles around death—
the sun came out
*
be brave, I tell myself
until the only voice I hear—
be true
*
on the wrist
of the man with hours to live
the watch tells perfect time
*
make of my body
a bridge, now to now,
love to love, life to life
That circling #4, my favorite, but the pause after the second line in circling #2 is so wide and ponderous. It reads with such variety, the truth, the wish, the reality.