Returned Valentine

Somehow I entered the day

with a clear desire

to be freer

more equal

to be larger better

than I’d managed

heretofore

and to notice how

many plants have

that Ah gesture

hands in the air

arrested by grace

or invisible police

and the others who

could care less

about the past

about being

remembered

you know how

to get dirt out

from under one fingernail

by using another

tools that we are

but I could hardly sleep

last night thinking

of all the work

we have to do

to get ready

for the future.