She imagines him
in that alpine land
distant among peaks,
miles of granite slick
as sunglint, without
foothold or compromise.
Far below,
she is cleaning the windows
to the south, and sees
the wandering rose falter
on the trellis.
Where the white bark pine
catches light, the gray-winged
nutcracker cackles and calls,
he watches the late clouds
color to scarlet and orange.
She raises the windows to the west,
looks out as the green dusk
thickens below the walnut tree,
and imagines him
large as a rock face
breaching the stars.
Barbara Swift Brauer is a freelance editor whose work has appeared in journals, anthologies, and art exhibitions. Her collection, At Ease in the Borrowed World, was published by Sixteen Rivers Press in 2013. Her second, Rain, Like a Thief, will be released by Sixteen Rivers Press in April, 2019.
© 2018, Barbara Swift Brauer
Halfway Down the Stairs 