The Pact   

by Anthony Robinson

 Anthony Robinson
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The Pact



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1 Corinthians 13:13

Because, my dear, we haven’t any time,
(or rather, because all we have is timed:
day to year to blue-skied eternity,)
we’ll make a pact, seal with solemnity
the few material things we have in common:
rich pipe tobacco, citrus-scented soap,

the woman named Mary who traipses past
our street at dusk, lips sealed, moving fast,
the scriptures we shared but never believed,
the ruddy smear of lipstick on my sleeve—
these few things we’ll always have in common,
more real than simple words like “faith” or “hope.”

We don’t have the leisure to abstract
or speculate on things that we can’t see.
We’ve blood and booze and soap and smoke but lack
that final word, the greatest of the three.

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