Lost Without Her Poem by John W. McEwers

There's a wind too strong to carry scents
A lingering winter is culled by spring
Warm air drifts up to our latitude
and gets caught in the undertow

Out here in the dark, I am swimming
only the streetlamps to guide me
like the fading torches of a swift skiff
rolling on the waves away from me

I am orphaned here on the streets
in the ocean, there are gulls, but—
no sight of land.

I'll shout only so long for some help
before the throat tires, legs quit kicking
and my mind wanders
to colder nights spent hugging a jacket
tight around my chest, walking my woman
home.