Gorgeous Light

We lived by a bay
that in the evenings
transformed to blood
and cracked my heart
like an alley full
of someone else's memories.

But as long as the sun
rose above the city,
as long as the sun set
behind the city,
we were bathed
in gorgeous light.

And when our child was born
his wails mixed
with the sounds of the buses
and the sirens.

You swore then that the moonlight
seeping through our windows
had its origins in the underworld,
that it spread like a strange fog
from the sidewalks and alleys
near the water.

It seemed to us that surely
someone had drowned.
How hard each day can feel.
You lift yourself and place
one foot before the other.

Then the buildings downtown
began disappearing from our lives.
Many days there was just the foam
near the shore, the gray and white birds
that rose and fell.

Or flew toward the city
and disappeared.

Copyright © 2010 Doug Ramspeck All rights reserved
from The Literary Review
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission