An old one hammered at

That bitter surprise:
that the faces coloring the bar twin others
one moved to another city
another served your father in his hospital bed
or stopped your calls
or lay with you

naked and

promising


all



vanished in magician's smoke
to be forgotten
remembered
doubted
glimpsed
in the strangers whose
hair
jaw
voice

until
your grail becomes
the curve of knee
the tilt of neck
the rarity
the new you can not quick.

and then the shade
who smiling
whispers