Meander is a technical term
for the path a stream follows from its headwater
to its terminus.

Any body of water that flows
will, at some time in its life,
meander.

It sounds similar to
me and her,
as in, breathless,
MeandHer swimming beneath a gibbous moon.

It is also an appropriate term
for the courses our hearts follow.

~

A surefire symptom of Lou Gehrig’s Disease:

When of the bottom of the foot -
the sole, our tangible sole
- is stroked, very lightly,
as with a feather, or a lover’s finger,
the big toe reflexively rises, attentive,
and the four other appendages retract, fearful.

A motion that is, inevitably,
redolent of spring Sunday mornings,
when her toes, curled with pleasure,
knocked over a vase of lilacs,
and the sudden fracture of glass
terrified you out of her,
so that her eyes and her mouth
looked very foreign.