In time the rain stopped,
the clouds moved along,
a sky full of stars, hundreds 

if not thousands of them 
long dead, just no one knows it yet. 
The power came back on,

I blew out the candle,
she put the deck of cards
back in the kitchen drawer

that holds the good scissors,
ink pens, and credit card
used once to gain a discount

on the couch she sleeps on 
when the bed is too crowded, 
or the room too warm. 

Illuminated, we went back
to our separate screens, 
she to nurse worries over money,

an amorphous future, 
but seeing as I’d won 
the last hand, three queens

to her two pair, 
I felt better than I did
before the rain began.