quickly the Mission grounds become all
but deserted. She wanted us up here tonight
to see the full moon rise, having suddenly
recalled such a visit many Octobers ago. And these
others, left over from the day here? -- The two
young Latinas idling, idling in silence
by the lavanderia? That young male lurking
(what for?) by the big arch? The middle-aged
bald businessman up on the colonnade, pacing
slowly back and forth, in shirtsleeves,
head down, puffi
slips out of the tree-dark behind us for
a look. It is switched-on stadium lights
down by the beach, behind some trees
The moon edges up from trees on a hill
and as we pause someone behind us says
`It's beautiful, isn't it,' and
stops beside us to add, `We used to watch it
from the back porch.' An old man, he crosses his grass
to his car, we round the corner, head down the street
-- she looking over her shoulder, for the back porch.