when the pink sliver of sky swims in
through the window and you hear
the high notes from the opera singer
one story below. Angel of wishing,
angel of fortune, the cart overturned,
the small animals from the back
of the truck flooding the highway.
The keys keep making the piano be.
I have only ever wanted the red sky
to turn blue. It’s so beautiful
when it sinks in. Hold me, closeness
says. As long as I have sight, I’ll see.
The walls of time dissolve whenever
the lights are turned off. The lights
that made the day so easy to be with.
I fold myself away. No mirage
of sirens hammering the glass front
of the hospital down the block.
Stars guide the eye across the sky.
It will be like that. Again, and again.
Copyright © 2020 by Mary Jo Bang. Originally published with the Shelter in Poems initiative on poets.org.