spare elipses

She has told me before

The pebbles on the shore

Are simply spare ellipses;

She learned

to read

And I realize

she has known

The knots in the planks are punctuation

For the stretched

type, face,

Of pattern in the grained boards

Beneath rough-hewn hands and calloused hopes

She has always

The understanding

That yellow tanager

Sings the report

reading the blossoms

and cotyledons

as vowels and consonants,

respectfully,

on the orchard page;

--I would have guessed

had I imagined--

She learned punctuation from the freckles

That formed

under my kisses

where her skin cautiously absorbed my sunlit hopes

That became melanized while she slept in

Wept moonlight

she sings the words

from beyond the pages of

love songs and lullabies

To herself knowing

Full/well

They are the same thing.