I arrived at the lakeside table transparently disguised,
greeted her dark mystery as if we were old friends.
That’s how it is now: no time to waste as we clamber
toward the light. I expect she noticed the green snake
coiled heavily in my gut as we were talking.
Too polite to point it out.
The universe is infinitesimal, she said, which explains
quantum entanglement, and I didn’t doubt her, exactly.
I hope you won’t make fun of me. She was dancing
on a tapestry of finely woven knowledge,
childhood traumas mathematically transformed
into wonder.
I told her I believe that flesh and senses are precious,
that we spend most of eternity as disembodied spirits.
The tilt of her head suggested caution, curiosity,
as two ducks landed, wings spread,
on the surface of the lake, their bodies parting water.
Buoyant, unexplained.
.
Al Fournier
.