The Gift

One day the gift arrives - outside your door,
Left on a windowsill, inside the mailbox,
Or in the hallway, far too large to lift.

Your postman shrugs his shoulders, the police
Consult a statute, and the cat miaows.
No name, no signature, and no address,

Only, "To you, my dearest one, my all..."
One day it all fits snugly on your lap,
Then fills the backyard like afternoon in spring.

Monday morning, and it's there at work -
Already ahead of you, or left behind
Amongst the papers, files and photographs;

And were there lipstick smudges down the side
Or have they just appeared? What a headache!
And worse, people have begun to talk:

"You lucky thing!" they say, or roll their eyes.
Nights find you combing the directory
(A glass of straw-coloured wine upon the desk)

Still hoping to chance on a forgotten name.
Yet mornings see you happier than before -
After all, the gift has set you up for life.

Impossible to tell, now, what was given
And what was not: slivers of rain on the window,
Those gold-tooled Oeuvres of Diderot on the shelf,

The strawberry dreaming in a champagne flute -
Were they part of the gift or something else?
Or is the gift still coming, on its way?

Prayer

O come, in any way you want,
In morning sunlight fooling in the leaves
Or in thick bouts of rain that soak my head

    Because of what the darkness said

Or come, though far too slowly for my eye to see,
Like a dark hair that fades to gray

Come with the wind that wraps my house

Or winter light that slants upon a page

    Because the beast is stirring in its cage

Or come in raw and ragged smells
Of gumleaves dangling down at noon
Or in the undertow of love
When she's away

    Because a night creeps through the day

Come as you used to, years ago,
When I first fell for you

In the deep calm of an autumn morning
Beginning with the cooing of a dove

    Because of love, the lightest love

Or if that's not your way these days
Because of me, because
Of something dead in me,
Come like a jagged knife into my gut

    Because your touch will surely cut

Come any way you want
But come