I stumbled upon love at a corner bodega,
bought nothing,
stole no/thing,
and returned home with the entire candy aisle
in right cheek-pocket—

I have stalked lust to different continents,
basked hand-in-hand
saw heaven in the tower of two shadows
stretched out before me;
and would follow it again
to a new world,
choose a new religion—
if I hadn’t come back lonelier than before I left,
arms tied behind the back of a cloudy day,
a foreigner
and atheist.

There is a cavity in my heart;
I never asked her name,
never offered mine as a sacrifice to silence,
or as provisions for
departing pang: feeling famished.