Love Rushes By

LOVE RUSHES BY / Luis Omar Salinas I'm thinking of those evenings of love rushing by me as thrushes rustle through the leaves of autumn. And I want to wrestle with fate and toss it about. I also want to believe in the threads of hope entangling me, prodding me to believe in a face coming towards me one afternoon, weeks or years from now— perhaps an afternoon when the valley rain has stopped and sun catches in the window on the cafe with just such a face to sit beside me and linger over tea . . . I take leave of the patio where birds dance about like unconcerned acrobats— for like them I want to learn the lesson of unforgetfullness. I put on my jacket and drive through the fields ... a full moon is rising—I light a cigarette and sing to all the madonnas of faith. 52 · The Missouri Review ...