for Peter

Remember when I came to you

clothed only in catastrophe?
You whispered, ‘if I unbolt my heart,

you must walk through or walk away.’

Remember? And once inside, we coupled,
unlearned the sad refrain we once called loneliness.
We became the boat. Reefed our sails
in squally weather, sailed our course together.
When judgment fell

and the fleet railed “recollect your family’s

good name, we’re your class remember”,

you gave my tears to the sea and the sea

wept. They hauled our sheet through

the block, and when our boat luffed,

we corrected, we stemmed the line, remember?
And after the wind arrived as a huge silence,

I asked if we could ever be becalmed
and you said no, we have locked

ourselves inside one heart, remember.