Between Us

by Patricia Russo

Last night, you lit a candle
and put it between us,
and said, Nothing
outside this circle of light
is real

not the sirens, not the cold,
not the table or the bed,
not the moth outside the window,
not the window.

Now it’s morning and you are gone
and nothing is real except the rain
the rain and the door
and then only the rain.

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Patricia Russo's work has appeared in One Art, Zin Daily, Wild Greens, Vagabond City, and Eulogy Press.