Vernal equinox.

From her window 
the pale, willowy 
young woman, a 

midwife, watches a 
paper cup being
tossed around in 

the wind. The dark 
ocean, the great 
progenitor in

the background, 
illuminated by waning 
moonlight. She waits

for his headlights 
to appear, her 
fiancé, a fleshy, 

ruddy man, the
town’s undertaker, 
who brings freshly 

cut carnations, 
and a long,
warm embrace.