Aimless Love

This morning as I walked along the lakeshore,

I fell in love with a wren

and later in the day with a mouse

the cat had dropped under the dining room table.

In the shadows of an autumn evening,

I fell for a seamstress

still at her machine in the tailor's window,

and later for a bowl of broth,

steam rising like smoke from a naval battle.

This is the best kind of love, I thought,

without recompense, without gifts 

or unkind words, without suspicion

or silence on the telephone. 

The love of the chestnut,

the jazz cap and one hand on the wheel

No lust, no slam of the door.

The love of the miniature orange tree,

the clean white shirt, the hot evening shower,

the highway that cuts across Florida.

No waiting, no huffiness or rancor-

just a twinge every now and then

for the wren who had built her nest

on a low branch overhanging the water

and for the dead mouse,

still dressed in its light brown suit.

But my heart is always propped up 

in a field on its tripod,

ready for the next arrow.

After I carried the mouse by the tail

to a pile of leaves in the woods,

I found myself standing at the bathroom sink,

gazing down affectionately at the soap,

so patient and soluble

so at home in its pale green dish.

I could feel myself falling again

as I felt its turning in my wet hands

and caught the scent of lavender and stone.

Bill Collins