Back into Love

Back into Love

(with a line from Ted Berrigan)

I took my body out for a walk every morning at eight

on the way to the ferry dock

past the store where the man ground coffee into dust

and sold bitter cigarettes

this marriage can be a dreary business

I said to myself fairly open

however

there was Istanbul

"feminine marvelous and tough"

and as my feet reacquainted themselves

with the burbling ferry

my eyes hoped they might once again

meet those of the man

in the green loden coat on the upper aft dect

in the soft morning light

leaning cool on the railing

and smoking a cigarette

He was tall dark and handsome of course

and I thought oh how well we can love ourselves

and then I thought

not too impossibly dreary besides

there is always the next generation to think of

and then there are too the blue promises

and all those roses

however dusty they may sometimes appear.

Then the ferry disentangled itself from the shore

and pumped on down the capital stream

and I looked at the sky with its fabolous palaces

and I hugely stretched

and there I was

with my fist full of clouds

and I thought what a wonderful thing this could be

on occasion

and I took myself down to the waterline

of the throbbing machine

and the deep blue sea

and I watched the great city astride its hills

and for the thousandth time

back into love

with love

Sidney Wade