Long ago I drew a chalk circle
around the place where you would stand

I do not see it inexplicable that after
sixteen thousand days and rain

it is bright and unchanged and
still clearly visible from my house

A brilliant white where you were
or where you will be still

You are not there right now
and I understand why that is

that you would repel even the
thin suggestion of enclosure

or a single thing that turns
back to itself, the snake and his tail or

 

 

a long ago love
a perfect circle of chalk
that persist through rain