Full Employment

For V.R. (1978–2000)

Vanessa called

all the way from Toronto.

She said that I

could count on her

if ever I was down and out.

After I hung up the phone

I played

the six-holed wooden flute

she gave me

on the occasion of our parting.

I figured out the fingering

and I played it better

than I had ever done.

Tears came out of my eyes

because of the sound,

and the recollection

of her extraordinary beauty

which no one could avoid,

and because she said

a song had gone missing,

and I had been selected,

out of all the unemployed,

I had been selected

to recover it.

I see you in windows

that open so wide

there's nothing beyond them,

and nothing inside.

You take off your sandals

you shake out your hair,

your beauty dismantled

and worn everywhere.

The story's been written.

The letter's been sealed.

You gave me a lily,

but now it's a field.