Parting Prayer
I’ve left you this pear.
Take it.
Let its russet weight fill
your palm.
Let its shape, pond, lute,
hourglass half-
remembered,
wake in you
the moments of body
we shared:
how we took
as from a field of grain
our fill and drank
the thrush’s song.
Hold it near;
remember how
scent arrived,
the promise
our touch fulfilled.
What store is in
you now
but still water
and broken strings?
I’ve left you this pear.
Take it.