< fish and promises >
ray heinrich
as your letter opens
the mist
rolling from the hills
is filled
with the black-tipped wings of gulls
tiny specks on some sky we shared
carrying you off
like the silver-sided fish they love
promises
always enough to get me up
to catch the alarm before it goes
and shower and dress
and eat and leave
pictures
and things remembered
and words said
and the parts of them that come back
there are always enough of those
the black-tipped wings of gulls
tonight
i'll sleep with them
