“I have fairly high intuition & hope
                                                                        abounds…”

You promised, & I promised, separately
we’d stay cool.  But fever rises in its own

time

and eventually, it is time
to step offbeat, offline, & into whatever

comes.

I think I failed before you failed, together
with expectation, anticipation, consternation

waiting

each day the accumulation of degrees
until, sweat on brow, fever breaks & promises

only

heighten first sensation.  When it comes—
{& it comes, eventually, just as the body

lifts}

a prayer, from parted lip to parted lip,
by whatever books present the first & best

possibility
& prescription.