Victory in Japan Day
By CL Bledsoe
The look in your eyes, the way you hold me
with their sadness — we’re married, like in old
movies no one watches, grandmother waiting
for a dead man to return from the war, his face,
a box of delicate letters. Nights, holding hands
as the fire dies, quiet except for the sparks. A song
playing in some other room. Time creaking out
in an old rocker. A new name for beauty to distract
from the dying. The circle of your eyes is the ring,
worried on a finger when you’re not near. All of this
has been said before, but darling, I’m home from
the war. It’s Victory in Japan Day. We won. We won.
