Long ago, I find the house
with one blazing window and sneak up
to peek in: there are my parents in each other’s arms
naked in the rumpled bed, mouths locked, eyes
radiant like the glass. I put my ear to the sash
to listen but the pane thrums and the cat Jupiter
comes padding: Am I a sparrow? A grasshopper?
I shrink back into parched shrubbery.
So long ago! All the streets are dark,
the houses identical, in the sky
ragged clouds race, and huge flocks,
wings creaking like oars,
migrate to the safety of the mind.
