Wayfarers

Knox Even Then

With the crying

and the puking

and the playing dirty

at arm wrestling

and the getting

mad at me

for suggesting keys

on a lanyard around

her neck

and the missing

of exits

and the increasing

obviousness of the complicated

nature of Sylvie, even then,

with all that, after only hours

at her side, I can see

she has a red rose of a heart

and an electric wit and

a face people would run into walls

admiring and the best

(naughty) dog and an explorer’s spirit,

all of it adding up

to me wishing she would

miss the exit

a few more times.