We rested on a blanket by the water
where I combed the sand and spoke your name gently

You slept but I was not tired and never have I studied
the fullness of a back not even of the dying

propped on their sides as I did yours then

I tried to mimic your breathing though I did not close my eyes
at least not for long instead I kept a kind of vigil

swatting for you what seemed a thousand nameless insects

See it was afternoon the ocean warm to boredom
boat oil and pelicans and I thumbed through a book

while I waited for you to stir to apologize but for what
for disappearing for leaving me to distinguish alone

my desires to want you or want to become you

Wake up please wake so that I might tell how it is
I can for you sit all day in a field of sand

Listen to Allison Seay’s reading of “Town of the Beloved” below…

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