Re-entry

high in the blackness of clearest night
framed by an open window, vapor trails
razor-cut through a morning sky

re-entry— pieces of space rain down,
streaks of silver atmospheric shimmer

ghosts of astronauts returning, silent in
the cold void where summer cannot reach

I watch past your ear while you move
over me, quiet breath, soft nostril gusts

a single grunt suggests your voice, and
I look away from the sight brought to earth,

pulled back by the deep welling warmth
as your ship plummets into the gulf—

recovering while, unnoticed from the open
window, the residue continues to fall