Infidelity

The sun hovering a mile above the edge 
of the Pacific, the wind rifling through the sea grass …
Early evening of the longest day of your life. 

Vast is this water, vast and incapable of solace. 
Beside you, the wind and an empty space 
to be filled with a fistful of sand. 

If knowledge is understanding which questions 
to ask, and wisdom is knowing which questions 
to ask again, then what is it you seek, you 

who have questions for which there are no answers? 
There is a sleeping god in heaven. 
There is a sleeping god who lets the loved one 

secretly poison you in your sleep. 
Even your shadow wavers behind you in the grass. 
Your heart beats slowly in your chest, in your ears. 

For consolation, you carry a fistful of sand. 
You carry yourself over the dunes with a fistful 
of sand and a newly discovered love of the second person, 

your shirttails small flags left in your wake.