i
So summer leaves turn gold over night.
One falls in love while sleeping.
All the patterns of seduction I could’ve followed
the night of the eclipse;
when I turned to you with the
blossom of my heart
wide-open in my hand.
You could’ve plunged the sharpest blade in me then
and yet I wouldn’t have bled;
I wouldn’t have felt any pain.
I was alive only to the knowledge that I belonged to you.

ii
How does one go about telling the story
of a boy and a girl
without mentioning the smell of rain?
And how to describe the pungent fragrance
that engulfed them both
on a day with no umbrellas,
no raincoats or rubber shoes.
Barefoot they danced in puddles
filling the air with their voices.
How would you describe the smell of rain, he asked her,
and she, peering at him beneath a lock of wet hair
answered,
Rain smells like happiness.

iii
Twenty-four lines without writing down your name.