last night
a delight
friends
excellent
art
and places
where living
has been embraced
afterward
I walk an incline
down to the metro
past teens teasing one another
enter a cave of a station
with tired clerks and backpackers
at trinidade
I change
to the yellow line
find
I'll wait for the bus
because my bones
ache from hours of Porto walking
my Gaia neighborhood's dark, dark
stepping carefully through debris
finding street lamps blinding the final meters
shielding my eyes from them
the neighbors I've asked to stay away laugh loudly
as they
come closer
returning too
from a night out
I enter the lift
the laughing neighbors
shift their gaiety to rooms below me
I remain happy in our distance
happy they are happy
and I am happy too
you find those you
have meaning with
you find
a quiet darkness and a brightness
that both unblind you
make you open and generous
when you are with friends
