St. Massacre's Day

for Pamela

From the terrace
a cascade of orchids

just as in your eyes

desire & the collateral damage

smoke threaded through broken glass
later described as alabaster
& chrome that love might outlast
the vows that failed us both

or brace the pulse of waves

until I’m no longer sure but calm

as you plan a random act of silence
to set alongside the arrant breath
in Español

bloodstained emblems yet to be divided
if each is both & the risk

awake in the dark before dawn listening
to the sound of you breathing

a sound like fogmist falling
onto the strings of a velvet guitar