Parting Prayer

by Chris Souza

I’ve left you this pear.
Take it.
Let its russet weight fill
your palm.

Let its shape, pond, lute,
hourglass half-
remembered,
wake in you

the moments of body
we shared:
how we took
as from a field of grain

our fill and drank
the thrush’s song.
Hold it near;

remember how
scent arrived,
the promise
our touch fulfilled.

What store is in
you now
but still water
and broken strings?

I’ve left you this pear.
Take it.

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