I Feel the Weight of Air

(sonnet)

I feel the weight of air, the stir of light,
The fragile turn of leaves in summer trees.
The asphalt’s warm embrace in closing night,
The taste of laughter’s grey uncertainties.

In cotton checkered stain of passing faith,
The quell of passions’ flame in smiling glass,
The sense in every thought of word’s restraint,
I seek in every strength of strangers’ pass.

Her presence glows in every streetlight’s flare,
In every swell of every restaurant’s thrall,
Her absence notes in every emptied chair,
Her wanting sought in every hand’s withdrawal.

The avenue convulsed in supple cheer,
My heart existing far away from here.