Blackbird Heart

For thirty years,
you've been in my rearview mirror:
with your dark blackbird heart,
smiling at me across the greenhouse,
with a small bird
alighting on your hand.

The doves woke us up every morning.
It was summer,
lake-scent and whisperings
engraved forever
on my heart.

You aren't on the planet any more.
But you're still there
in my rearview mirror
every time I think of love,
and summer, weeping willow,
the doves cooing at daybreak
just before our love
was gone.


for The Sunday Muse