Downpayment on Eternity

I never knew if she needed
God or money.   Maybe
she just wasn’t sure.   We lived
together for a while on the
coast south of San Francisco.
There was not much money.
I would stop in at the
supermarket & steal a loaf
of bread or some cheese.
We drank cheap wine & cooked
beans, worried about money,
fucked & took long walks
along the beach.   I worked a
shit job at the local hospital & wrote
poetry & read a lot.
Eventually there were
a couple of kids.   She said
I was their father.
It seemed plausible
although neither of them
looked much like me.
There was a deer that
bedded down each night
outside our bedroom window.
In dreams I tried to climb
inside the deer & look out
through its eyes.