Lilting
Derrick Austin
In bed, we are lavender together.
We watch the little theater of hours.
Walking her dogs, our neighbor
Crosses the lakeside corner,
Hoop earrings
Echoing the birch’s colors.
Tend your joy, you whisper,
As if charm against eviction or some harm
We might inflict on each other.
For once, I don’t hear you
From the room called
Memory. Open the window.
Risk, breath, our seasons,
Let them in. Let them in.