Richard W. Halperin‘s most recent collections are Quiet in a Quiet House, Salmon/2016; and Prisms, Lapwing/2017. A new collection Catch Me While You Have the Light is listed by Salmon for Autumn 2017.

Lines

I cannot get excited about flying into eternity.
A look from you is eternity.
The remembrance of that look is eternity.
The moon is eternity, because there it is, immaculate.
It is whatever one thinks of it, it doesn’t care,
Nor would I care if I were the moon.
Tea and toast are preferable to flying into eternity.
So is a good chuckle between friends.
The idea of flying makes me nervous anyway.
Here I am.
I see in front of me a hawthorn tree.
I can touch it, even the part of it that isn’t there.
I can admire it.
The leaves, some of them, have fallen off,
Are on the ground. There! I admire them, too.
Little birds fly. That is their job.
I do not have to do it.
I can lie down on the leaves, look up
And see the clouds flying.
I do not buy the story that clouds are only condensed moisture.
They are more than that.
Here I am.