These Stars

That night in Yucca Valley
the stars spread over us like dust
glittering in a velvet sea.
They fell forever into space
and we grappled under blankets.
I fell forever into your depths,
coming together and falling apart,
beaded with stardrops of sweat.

Tonight, over the lake, the same stars
and I stand on the deck craning up
drinking them down like heady wine.
I remember Yucca Valley.
I remember the stars and the depths
and the blackness between the stars.
They are still binding us together.
These stars, and nothing more.


Copyright © 1994, 1997, 2008, and 2011 Daniel J. Bishop