Because you ask For my poems with More faithfulness than I write them – none now In two weeks.

Just because in your absence - You have always been absent - Between me and drunkenness The only defense I can raise Is this canticle of words.

And because you happen To be far away – perhaps Walking now in the sun, Perhaps thinking of me, A man haunted by night.

Also because your presence For me, happens to be as Ephemeral as the harvest Moon shining, even as it is Sinking in this autumn sky.

Because I simply must.