I see you on the kitchen bench
soaking wet
drying your shoes on the radiator
feet bare and ice cold
you make a joke
I sip my coffee
to hide my smile

We opened the windows
flies dead on the window sills
lace curtains
fifty years old
at your grandparents house
the weeds outside
reach almost to my waist

The smell of the elder tree
by the front porch
sweet and overpowering
old yellowed books
and playing cards laid out
in solitaire
A game I never win