Miracle Stuff (In Memory of Jeanne)

If all the ones I loved

were no longer here

I’d want to become a part

of the fabric of the sky, too,

that starry cosmic sheet,

a veil, I float up and

curl up in it

like a kid in a cozy blanket.

I think of her,

she was, and her body

no longer holds her in,

her smile-life somewhere in

that place between

here and there.

All that is

will one be what once was —

those green leaves,

this person next to me,

the bench on which I sit —

our spirits,

stitched and woven,

quilted together,

floating in atmosphere ocean.

Maybe this side is

the more miraculous?

Moments never to taste again,

skin on skin

always once,

kisses and curly blonde child hair

the scent breathed in,

rain in sun

the scent breathed in after,

eyes looking into eyes

lips close to lips

the scent breathed in before,

hands grasping other hands,

we, together, alive, temporal.

Miracle stuff.