Gonna have to get me a new old ladder
The one we’ve had I’m leaving you
The old new one we found wrapped up downstairs
And used to paint the ceiling trim
We used to paint the town the color
Of the barn hulking there, empty bird-spattered
The shattered stalls for the animal teams
The dreams of clover and chicken scratch
Did we really rescue that clichéd neighbor’s kitten?
Then sitting up there in the dark pine limbs
You glimpsed a nest we both thought long abandoned
Then standing, stretching spied a clutch of three blue eggs
I’m walking outside ’neath your chill window pane
The rain sheets off the second-story eaves
My right sleeve’s wet though I’ve twisted back my shoulder
It’s colder than it would be if it were snowing