Poem For the Girl Across the Street

Four layers of glass between us and
two are resting on our noses and
you have never seen me through them

my glasses point through a tinted window
you have never been on side to see through
where I am always watching you

across the busy street you are wiping a table
and putting glasses of beer on it and
I have a cloud of smoke around my head

and you have never seen through it
or through those glasses of beer
but your grace tells me you know

I am here watching every day and you
are washing the windows and opening
and closing them and taking empty glasses away

if i knew your name it would be grace and
you would sing as I whispered it in my sleep
and our glasses would be folded on the bedside table

and the bedroom window would be open to
let in the sounds of the night singing and to
let in the darkness from outside

but everyday I am behind this mirrored window and
you are always busy and always being watched
and moving like air across the calm ocean of mirrored glass

where waves are a memory that fell with titans
where shipwrecks are unthought of and
sailors drink lemonade and sing hymns to you

as I sing to you here with this breath of smoke and
you dance in the clouds across a busy street.