eye smile

he’s been gone long enough that
space leaches into the still
you stop kidding yourself
with warm spots
sheet impressions
you’re getting tipsy with late
summer smoke from next door
no longer his perfume
the amber, which
for a while
ate through your pores, pressed
daily in alms
till it transferred as yours
there on his pillow
filling his shirt
the fox
pilfered from the beach
while you, waist deep
sailed ash
and asked, and asked

your eye smile
last night
swam nutrient rich
you’d been gone a while, too
inscribing tales in the sand
written from limn of waves
going back to harvest
horizon to sea floor
now you’ve bellied ashore smooth
as stone pine wood