You were two bodies
with one name between you.
Then he was gone.

All her careful packing
of the trenches in his body
could not keep
his soft voice from spilling
out into the shadows
behind the living world.

She was part of
that ancient tradition
of choosing her own name
for birth for church
and for love

one after her great aunt
one after Teresa
patron saint
of bodily illness

and one after the boy
from Texas she met
on riding home
on the trolley.

Having begun his life so
far from her she knew
the temporary nature
of his distance now.

When your bodies meet
again a new
marriage will take place
more glorious than all
earthly matrimony.

We have no name
for this love here.

-Robin LaMer Rahija