Too bad to stay here
Until the snow.
How do the birds live?
Where does the sky go?

Who can afford us?
We’ll be let out
For good and all:
Raw paws, bruised snout.

What were we doing?
You wrote a blog.
I bought a toothbrush
For a dog.

How can we claim
Our hearts were riven?
What ledger shows
Our mercy given?

I try to breathe
Air like a stone,
Like dirty water.
We are alone.

Sarah Ruden has published several books, including, most recently, The Face of Water: A Translator on Beauty and Meaning in the Bible and a new translation of Augustine’s Confessions.

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Published in the October 2019 issue: View Contents

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