Plumes from two chimneys opposite the café
mingle, become each other. I know
what the smoke says. I know that life is nothing
but a brief wisp. For now, we’re together
shooting the breeze, intermingling like the smoke
that is a white shawl over the shoulders
of the invisible goddess of the cold, keeping her warm.
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Greg Delanty is an Irish poet who teaches at Saint Michael's College in Vermont. His latest book of poems, Selected Delanty, comes out this fall.