Oranges & Sardines

Last night we stayed home.
Last night we stayed home again.
Last night you drank scotch, watched TV.
And we stayed home again.

Last night I looked at you in the half light.
Your head up, you held your scotch.
We stayed home again, watched TV
I watched you lift your glass.

I saw your mother in your eyes.
We talked when the movie stopped.
We stayed home again last night.
I was looking for something.

I was looking for something to say.
About the woman in the movie we were watching.
And the man she looked at without words.
Sometimes, I look at you without looking for something.

They were watching TV, this man, this woman.
They held hands, I held yours.
It was your mother’s hand so it was mine.
It was your father’s hand so it was mine.

Last night we stayed home.
Last night we stayed home again.
Last night you drank scotch, we watched TV.
I sipped from a glass of red wine.

The scotch was brilliant,
the color of oranges & sardines,
flickering in the flickering light.
We stayed home again, last night, last night, last night.

Tomorrow again, the grey, grey light,
will hang like a bracelet, a loom, a loom.
That grey light I sometimes see you in.
But it doesn’t matter now in our bed, in this room, this room.

Last night we stayed home, again.
Last night you drank scotch, we watched TV.
I drank from your glass, orange & sardines.
The scotch spun, I held your hand.

I am looking for something to say,
About the woman in the movie we were watching.
And the man she looked at without words.
I remember what that couple remembered about themselves.

The scotch spun oranges, the TV sardines.
Lights off, socks on, I kissed you,
our bodies, shape shifting pails of sand,
silence rubbing away our names and our voices,

We stayed at home again, last night, two owls.
Your hair is the color of fine scotch, mine, sardines.
How wise we’ve become perched aloft in our feathered bed.
Last night we remember, everything about ourselves, said.