Ran Brady

11.06.24

We do not sleep.
 
She keeps up with the polls;
I smoke until I’m on the couch.
 
She lets me pretend until 1am,
when the votes seem sure,
then we begin our planning.
 
Where we’d go.
What we’d take.
Who’d we be leaving behind.
 
She makes the coffee, I feed
the feral cats outside.
I apologize to them,
like they’d understand
if we suddenly left,
suddenly disrupted their
little lives.
 
One of the cats lets me pet him for the first time.
 
I’m watching the sunrise on the walk to the trash can and
I don’t know how tomorrow will come.
 
My knees break
& I weep to the earth.
 
The tom cat runs away; and
 
the marigolds are still blooming;
 
and I stand again.