Café Philos: an internet café

I remember that freezing morning
Up on Rampart Reservoir
When we huddled on the couch
In your family’s cabin.

The Wolf Moon Wind tore from the northwest
Across the lake like a pissed-off banshee,
Thundered the glass, shocked the trees,
Left them reeling.

Your beauty exploded my heart,
Blew it huge, made it go nova, humbled me.
O Marah O Marah!
O Marah why?

I asked where you were going
And you replied,
“For every peak there is a valley.
For every sky there is an earth.

For every flight there is a fall.
For every life there is a death.”
O Marah,
O Marah!

Your eyes were clear,
Your back was straight,
Your mind was sharp as crystal.
But your past had thrown chains on your tomorrow.

You never relented; you never forgave yourself
For his malice, for his cruelty to you.
You idealized your death,
You saw in it a refuge —

And you fled your life as ruthlessly
As the Wolf Moon Wind blows bitter, bites cruel.
I woke this morning poured out, empty,
Yearning for you,

My arms aching to hold you,
Aching for you,
Only my arms could not find you,
My lips could not taste yours –

Then the Wolf Moon Wind bit deep,
Cut my side, cracked my chest,

And some part of me escaped against my will
To stumble after you.

O Marah

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“Wolf Moon Wind” is from my forthcoming poetry collection, A Death in the Spring, which is scheduled to be released about a year from now.