You came from beyond this:
photo in an album, hunch in my gut,
fire in the belly.

You brought sadness and strength,
all summer we waited for dawn
yet woke to darkness.

You asked only for everything
squeezed from my soul
splattered on the pavement.

I might have imagined you
a fiction of what night needs
sweet water mingled with

a sprinkle of hope to cling to.