It is the time of long evenings, and they sit
by the window waiting for the golden hour
her gown is as heavy as a jewel pulled from the sky
shimmers like an ice drop
their photographer brings coffee, butter cake
and the groom loudly chides her for losing her diamond
and even as her face closes its rattled blossoms
she mistakes her patience with him for love
she belongs in the park among the
magnolias and weeping cherries
he belongs in the blue of her elbow
the last well he will never learn to sip from
they will look at each other and unravel
she will keep touching the sky with two arms
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 23, Issue 2.
Rita Rouvalis Chapman’s poetry has appeared most recently in Nine Mile, Laurel Review, Panoply, and Typehouse. She teaches high school English.
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