Last night, as we were leaving Heather's,
as I was standing outside with her and Debba and Arthur,
I glimpsed a planet through the spare tall trees.

Venus, we figured, or Jupiter.
Something white and luminous.

It gave me a wee dose of hope.
An electric candle in somebody's window
in the weeks leading up to Christmas.

A fresh reality, though I have seen its like

a hundred times before

and more.

It was a word spoken by Heaven in Grace's gentle voice.
I see you. And I love you. And things will be well.

Maybe it was the planet Julian,
shining in the sky at ten minutes of nine
on an April night in southern New England

on the verge of a suburban wood.