I’ve mastered the art of waiting
because it’s the only thing I have
and it always answers me
with nothing
Once, when I was a child
I waited for the sea
to calm down
so I could learn how to swim
But when the water touched my feet
it vanished
like dew on glass
It had waited for me all night
but I never came
So it left
And later, as a young man
I waited for my father
to help me cross the street
I remember how
every time I needed
to step off the curb
he’d meet me with just one finger in my palm
The cracks in that hand
were enough
safe
full of the synonyms of life
But for more than two years now
I’ve stood at the signal
a minute or two
and nothing from you arrives
not even your eyes
In war
I waited long for death
searched for a basil leaf
to kill me
with the scent of life still on it
But still
I wait
Now
I wait for a memory
to return
so I can sit inside my lover’s pupils
and have the sea hand me over slowly
sip the waves from the shore
and as each one pulls something away
it tells me
about the last time
I waited for you
and you
did not come
