The Undertow Poem by Robert Rorabeck

My Mexican students are my favorite Students
I am going to buy a cake for Hermilo’s birthday
Next Wednesday
But I can't love you anymore
Especially with the wind blowing this way
I can no longer hold the birthday candles for all of
Your wishes so stilly beneath the overpasses whilst I wait
For you
And wait for you, while you are sleeping at home with
Him, restive in his brown tenements
Perfumed in his amens that even the gods don’t listen to
Anymore, as my words spill out
A cornucopia of over sweetened row beneath
The overpasses, as the angels of our fanfares disappear
Beneath the brightness of the undertow