We to I

"we" is now an "i",
isn't it like that
it happens
when we turn to shade from sun
letters drop from two to one

"is" is now a "was" - but how
if intentions were as clear as
water
but the words as cloudy as the sky
"is" to "was" and "we" to "i"

so i praise then curse,
until surrender - us to you
take pieces that you find
collect the past like rocks or
stamps, to show it off
to next - whoever is in line

yes to no, or maybe "maybe"
doesn't quite make the cut
but it cuts like hell
when i think maybe
i left a piece of me in us

Stranger

everything you say is good
but not because of what you say
but because you say it
goodness flows right through you
from your root
into the branches of your mouth

i am a child in your presence
hiding behind my mothers legs
and you, a passerby, a stranger
notice my bitten fingernails

smile, the way a stranger smiles
at children
the way the sun smiles on the fields
we're all but numbers to each other
that we recount in numbered sleeps

and you, your goodness is contagious
in blackened sky, in deserts dry
you are a firefly - my stranger
I catch your light
in passing by