Ten Thousand Sparrows I We Do Not Tell, We Do Not Gather

I will know the ghosts
you created and you will know mine
by a look,
by your listening
or lack of either –
because we do not stand and state
our names – real or imagined,
but we find each other.

These are the stories we don’t tell
but keep in a compact
in the small fastened compartment
of a make-up bag –
accepting its presence in
the thin silky material, the bulging outline
with zippered teeth
tightly closed.