I was witness to Venus some mornings ago,
startling in the sky, in the black
of a winter morning’s 9:00 a.m.
I know nothing of stars. My indifference to them
bespeaks a startlement I used to lack
till you, at a distance, altered me so.

Because you, at a distance, startle me so.
I know nothing of love. I know about trails,
and time, and distance, and paths I’ve lost.
They don’t matter now. What now matters most
are Venus and you. You both never fail,
from unreachable distance, to alter me so.