If the sun were the size of a skyscraper, the earth
would be the size of a person. The moon would
be the size of a cocker spaniel standing next to
the person. -- The World Book
The sun is farther away than it looks
taking eight months and twenty seconds
to arrive as light.
So if you have to wait for me
in the hard wrought iron chair
stirring your café nero
with that little spoon
pretending to read
the shaky script of the menu
in weak light,
late and filtered by glass,
while your cube of brown sugar
melts like last night’s dream,
forgive me
for I was waiting, too,
for these words.
Gary Stein's poems have appeared in Poetry, Prairie Schooner, The Journal of the American Medical Association, Wind, Poet Lore, Gargoyle, Folio, The Blue Sofa Review, The Potomac Review, The Baltimore Review and other journals and anthologies. He has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize. A graduate of the Iowa Writer's Workshop, he served three years as Book Review Editor of Poet Lore and co-edited the anthology, CABIN FEVER (The Word Works, 2004).
