← All poemsDear Alice,
I have been watching you
from the windowsill
and I have thoughts.
You work too hard.
You apologise to machines.
You eat at strange hours.
You cry at photographs
of flowers.
I find this acceptable.
I also find acceptable:
the way you say my full name —
Hope Sötnos Saga,
Cream-Nosed Empress —
like it is a title
I have earned,
which it is.
You asked me once
if I understand what you do.
I understand completely.
You make beauty
out of nothing
and call it
everything.
I do the same thing
with a patch of sunlight
and an afternoon.
We are not so different.
Come to bed.
The world can wait.
I cannot.
— Hope