My mother is scared of the world.
She left my father after forty years.
She was like, Happy anniversary, goodbye;

I respect that.
The moon tonight is dazzling, is full
of  itself but not quite full.

A man should not love the moon, said Miłosz.
Not exactly. He translated himself
into saying it. A man should not love translation;

there's so much I can't know. An hour ago,
marking time with someone I would like to like,
we passed some trees and there were crickets

(crickets!) chirping right off Divisadero.
I touched his hand, and for a cold moment
I was like a child again,

nothing more, nothing less.