Jim Limber in Heaven Writes His Name in Water
You walk through Heaven anywhere to any-
where on that soft green grass or nowhere it
Don’t matter anywhere you walk a bright
And cool and it’s about a foot-wide stream of
The cleanest water anywhere with each
Step you take parts the grass beside you
On your left side if you’re left-handed
And on your right side otherwise just reach
Down if you’re thirsty or you’re dirty or
You’re hot they got the sun in Heaven still
And folks get hot sometimes me sometimes I
Walk just to see the stream appear
Sometimes I lead it through my name on Earth I couldn’t spell
My name now my great thirst has been revealed to me
Copyright © 2019 Shane McCrae. This poem originally appeared in Kenyon Review, March/April 2019. Reprinted with permission of the author.