He Watches Her Descend the Stairs

A look like
happily ever after
can intend but
go astray
when will the stars
chipped from the moon
sing the night back to me

no dawn breaks
the heart like
being the one who was awaited
and missed
missing

and what would it have hurt
for him to say
I am the luckiest man alive
to spend the evening with
the most beautiful woman in the world

but no
he only silently watches her descend the stairs
her tender heart expanding in his gaze
he lets her self-consciously bring up pedantic thoughts
that have no place in poetry
or beauty

(Not enough to live inside his eyes)

a tinder heart breaks into a million
fiery shining stars

“I see the moon
and the moon sees me
and the moon sees somebody that I can’t see
so God bless the moon
and God bless me
and God bless the somebody that I can’t see
If I get to heaven
before you do
I’ll make a hole and pull you through
and I’ll write your name
on every star
that way the world won’t seem so far.”*



* “I see the moon . . .” in part traditional, in part Sarah Kay