Kisses & Tears
for Leslie Saiz

it came to departure
I was in tears
unable to hold back
the fall of these

unable to hold back either
kisses falling upon her face
like rain falls

a drop here, a drop there

not like friendship or family
confined to two cheeks

not like lovers,
two lips making tulips

falling kisses like falling rain
anywhere upon a face

upon earth, upon flower seeds
or flower petals in a garden
or growing wild

unable to bear
having to say bye bye

crying and kissing her
wanting to stick
as many bows as possible
into or onto a gift

wrapped and packaged
about to be sent

more bows than she could bear
her husband near, his

and this man in Havana, in tears
as if tearing actually

paper ripping
because she was leaving

husband and her
and friends they were with

having to, as surreptitiously
as they got into Cuba
get back to the US, its West Coast,
to San Francisco

authorities assuming
that they had gone as far as Mexico
and were returning

how though could she forget the poet
in love with her, crying and kissing her
saying goodbye to her in Cuba


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2010
5:00 p.m. 16.01.10