TRAJECTORY

THE TRAJECTORY OF DESIRE

God will forgive me. It's his job.
Heinrich Heine

A sudden, brilliant arc
across the dull firmament
of day-to-day existence.

A question not so much unanswered as unformed,
a censure not so much imposed as implied.

Neither hand comes up in acknowledgment
of the farewell gesture, no echolalic smile,
no commutation of the sentence.

Livid flesh distorted against ceramic tile,
surprise, amazement in the unwavering eye.

“Comic relief,” he says. “It’s the only
plausible explanation. It’s nothing
but an elaborate cosmic joke.”
“Oh but it is more,” she insists.
“It must be.”