Nocturne with Choreography for Departure

He waits in silence, memory lit indigo, tangerine:

the light of betrayal, colors of gas-jets

that licked illicit on her skin

in the wrong rooms.

All the years of shameful exchange,

poor currency.

She will enter, smile cracking carmine

over bad teeth. He’ll answer

in words, pulled steel, singing with electricity

and sudden comprehension of the allure of trains.