A CUP OF WATER AND A ROSE STAV POLEG

AFTER FRANCISCO DE ZURBARÁN

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Had a plate been shipped from Peru to Seville—

five or so weeks through the map 

of an ocean— I too

 

would have placed a quick rose 

on its silver-brim deck. At the market—

the girls are sun-dazed with harsh summer. 

 

If it’s morning— there are horses and fields

of blue wheat, there’s the washing

of plates. I too would have anchored a cup 

 

at the focal point of a picture— pitched 

a room in the light of a boat, taken 

my time. 

 

*

 

How to draw water. 

Summer brings nothing but sky and more sky—

a new moon every hour, a girl

 

crossing a field. 

I would have rescued a stalk off my hair, waved

to a possible ship 

 

from a harbour darkening with salt and white 

seagulls. I would have stayed

for the rain.