She is constant like the ocean.
Gentle currents carry her warmth.
I sit waiting.
It is night.
A quarter moon lights my balcony.
The fire burns.
I wait
knowing she will appear
before the light has gone,
the fire out.
Patiently I sip my tea
wondering
how all this came to be
when I know
it could have been otherwise.
Baffled by my good fortune
distraught over what might have been
her key turns in our front door
while the moon is hidden
by a nighttime cloud
and the fire burns
bright.
Ed Krizek is a former Swarthmorean correspondent, and a former Swarthmorean who now lives in Ambler. His forthcoming book of poetry is The Pure Land.