By now, he was curled up
inside himself,
a cat that crept somehow
atop an engine
for the vanishing heat.
The water in the vase
went unchanged.
Beneath the tide marks
survived a small pool
of milky, dreamy jade.
Keeping his eyes closed,
he decided that
he had simply resumed
his stool at that bar
in San Sebastián, was it?
Spreading injured fingers
over gentle zinc,
ordering something sweet
while the sky outside
blossomed, flared, dimmed.
vspr.st 