I’m in love with the light
because I don’t want to lose it

& I have faith that my hand
can protect yours forever. Can hold on

so gently, can fend off the attack.
Can navigate a path through delicate air.

Each of the people we see are so quiet,
forgetting the quarrel deep in their hearts.

Which is another way to assert
that some feelings still make sense.

Might not even notice the remedy of choice.
Here’s one narrative you can underline boldly:

twice we have changed direction
to better appreciate that one tree

& twice the world delivered
the right kind of transcendence. O

is what we say when we feel taken aback,
happy because of changes around us.

No second thoughts. Should we take
the grave into our homes, remember

the birches & all the lost people? My soul stretches out
like a bird in the sky. I imagine the bells,

how each is a concentration of sound,
a record of something violent happening.