The Distribution of Happiness

By Robert Hass

Bedcovers thrown back,
Tangled sheets,
Lustrous in moonlight.

Image of delight,
Or longing,
Or torment.

Depending on who’s
Doing the imagining.

(I know: you are the one
Pierced through, I’m the one
Bent low beside you, trying
To peer into your eyes.)

Owl

A bullet

of fuel and engine, we streak

through the night

 

to somewhere

better.

 

But, watch for the owls,

feathered ghosts

perched in the shadows

unknown to us

 

until found on the side

of the highway –

 

piled darkness.

 

The light

long since

escaped.