Reply to Emily Dickinson’s ‘Because I could not stop for Death’

and now we’ve met

but shan’t i speak
of him as though a
friend

wanting to be noticed,

who woos me all through
life-

but i, elusive
yet
to this hand of
friendship.

the fire at
the local store
before i arrived

the crash at
barn after i
left

the ocean that
threw me up after
swallowing our boat

too much chase
for a one-sided
romance.

and now we’ve met
and i’d have to die
to keep this friendship.

leonell echa