She sat on the back steps of their house, the night
Warm and moist, like the bath she had earlier taken.
Black sky full of stars above, the koi pond , black and still below.
He came and sat beside her, missing her presence by His side.
“Can’t sleep?” She shook her head, her glasses
Reflecting ambient light.
Silence.
He took another tack.
“So, here is my shirt. The mystery of the missing
Sakura Matsuri shirt is solved.”
Silence.
“You have on a shirt and no
Bottom. I have on a bottom And no top.
What would the neighbors say?”
Silence.
And then bitterly she said: “They would say, What
Is that extremely handsome
Japanese man doing with that
extremely ugly Caucasian woman?
Like I hear your friends whisper
When you cannot hear.”
He picked up the end
Of her braid and pulled off the tie.
Gently and patiently he
Unwound and spread her hair,
like a shawl, over her shoulders.
He looked up at the sky.
He looked at her, small and hunched beside him.
He took her hair in his hands and rubbed his face against
Its silk. He breathed in its perfume.
“I will love you until the stars come
To live in the night sky of your hair.
I will love you until they burn out and turn cold.
I will love you until they turn to dust and
are blown throughout the entire
Universe. I will love you with last my breath.
Watashi wa anata o eien ni aishimasu.”
She looked up at him and smiled. “I can sleep now.”
He smiled and stood and reached for
Her hand. “Then come and let us sleep.”
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