It became the bluff
and the shallow stream both,
his hand extended, all
the empty bottles lit
beneath the string of lights
in the canopied parking lot.
Please, he begged in jest,
the most intimate gesture since
he wanted almost nothing. This
was not the hand
coming down like so many
loosened stones, I told
myself and let him
collapse, the hair on his face
against my neck, our shoes
dragging the broken block
of concrete as we swayed
among coupled guests
to the singular voice that said
something about love
and washed over everyone.