The Gazebo

We finished building the gazebo
four months ahead of schedule,
just in time for the heart of winter.

Has that ever happened to you?
It looked silly against the

grey heaving bosom of her sky.

The girl was afraid
it would not be there when it came time for
pomegranate tea under sprig spring stars.
You were early too, I told her;
we are here now.

Never mind who she is,
or her relationship to our gazebo,
to the blue diamond pills
spread in my hair. After the storm,
she will come back from the hospital.
She will. And we will bury ourselves
in the missing walls of the straw-thatched
remains.
Ahead of schedule -

I've prepared chestnuts for roasting,
wood for the fire, and

enough lonesome to

burn for her lovely.

©hRj2007