AFTERTHOUGHTS IN ADVANCE

For the house you chose for us

that still fits.

For the cycled

flowers you planted to bloom

in different months all summer.

For showing me that feeling

is always surer than thinking.

For telling me to dot my “i’s.”

For knowing what to ignore

and how.

For smiling truthfully

in photographs.

For letting

your heart make up your mind.

For not letting your heart

make up your mind.

For knowing

the difference.

For feeling the pain

of total strangers as your own.

For buying a drum for Sam.

For buying the second and third

and then the piano.

For saving

whatever becomes in time

more savable because you saved it.

For thinking of the dead as always

present but unseen.

For being

dear when near but dearer

when not.

For laughing until

you have to sneeze.

For knowing

that money is better to give

when alive than leave when dead.

For keeping spare dollars in your

coat pockets just in case.

For proving that silence is truer

than talk each time we touch

or look into each other’s eyes

and hear the silence speak.

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