From room to room
after you left
I wandered a while
in the hours
as instructed
I have cooked
the mushroom soup
picked up a paperback
I have read
but forgotten
had some coffee
it is quiet
I don't know why
all afternoon
I think of you
in the traffic
the rain
peacefully falling
like some plastic beads
from the '70's
when they took all the doors
off the closets
and our parents smoked
all night downstairs
and laughed too loud
we couldn't hear
what they were
and what they knew
if you hate me
it must be
for ancient reasons