Your lips came in the front door
on a cold winter day in Cleveland
all by themselves, but not lonely
because each one had the other
and began to speak, telling me
how it was in the room, how I was,
and there was no reason for me
to try to answer back, because
your ears were somewhere else
out in the cold that winter day
which didn’t mean I wasn’t moved
by what your lips said, how red
they were, your lips, how much they
seemed to promise and remember
I wanted to kiss your red lips
but there was no way to kiss
your lips without the rest of you
to hold them in place this cold day