(for Katherine, 16th anniversary)

You grow your hair longer these days,

Thick black beautiful hair.

It hangs loosely cropped to your shoulders,

A black curtain across a white stage.

Many years it was short,

And before that it was longer,

And before that I did not know you.

Was there a time I did not know you?

Sixteen years now.  Your warm brown eyes 

Soften like chocolate and light swims in their surfaces.

Some days there is more light, some days less,

Always there is light.

I will go out in my car today,

drive through a city of broken men.

When I come home you will be there.

This is the truest thing I know.