Coal Oil Point No. 2

Three days of rain
and iron light
around me
    me boiling water
    me striking a match
I am held here

You can
come if you want to
laugh and
take off your clothes
    only easy

I walk past our houses
and the wind 
drowns them
This winter
everywhere
the smell of water

If you will
say it's the rain
keeps me
    you naked
    you knowing
how lightly we are held
I will love you for it.

William Timberman