AFTERTHOUGHTS IN ADVANCE
For the house you chose for us
that still fits.
For the cycled
flowers you planted to bloom
in different months all summer.
For showing me that feeling
is always surer than thinking.
For telling me to dot my “i’s.”
For knowing what to ignore
and how.
For smiling truthfully
in photographs.
For letting
your heart make up your mind.
For not letting your heart
make up your mind.
For knowing
the difference.
For feeling the pain
of total strangers as your own.
For buying a drum for Sam.
For buying the second and third
and then the piano.
For saving
whatever becomes in time
more savable because you saved it.
For thinking of the dead as always
present but unseen.
For being
dear when near but dearer
when not.
For laughing until
you have to sneeze.
For knowing
that money is better to give
when alive than leave when dead.
For keeping spare dollars in your
coat pockets just in case.
For proving that silence is truer
than talk each time we touch
or look into each other’s eyes
and hear the silence speak.