I’ve had my share of calls too close to mention
Window shutters ripped open in the summer storm
I’ve listened to the wails of good people struggling
felt them all, knelt before them all

Deep waters
come to me
Flotsam strewn across
your brutal face, a careless
indignation,
regardless of how or why
we want to wade in deeper and deeper
our knees and trunks and arms and heads
bend us further and further out of reach

It is not to be
This night, among all others,
this life will not be decided here
this world will expand and contract
code and decipher
flatter and cajole

bend and break and buttress
but this night, unlike all others,
I became cognizant of the fact
That this night is not next night
Is one less night I can remedy
I have to make this night the night
The one that I remember