Arbitrary Tuesday

"Arbitrary Tuesday" is a bittersweet companion piece to the story of the little girl posted here y'day. It's composition began after the little girl and I returned to Denmark and then separated. She kept the baby as well as the apartment and I went to live on the riverboat St. Lawrence, where I was later so fortunate as to make the acquaintance of the much beloved Sunflower woman.

I have no idea whatsoever as to why I chose "Tuesday" and not some other day of the week, except that it rolls better off the tongue than the other days.

Years later, however, I discovered that in a certain culture Tuesday is the preferred day for couples to marry. The reason is that, in the creation parable in Genesis, God(s) [Elohiim] says "It is good" two times on the third day, which is Tuesday for those who keep the Sabbath on Saturday.

I would rake and burn the daily leaves
and cut the hands from all the clocks.
There would be, place to be,
to go, to walk, to talk -- to stay

And we would be, making love on Arbitrary Tuesday!


I have drunk my cups of loneliness,
made my peace with emptiness.
I stand alone on shifting sands
and face the world with empty hands

And we could be, making love on Arbitrary Tuesday!

But, if you could go back to before
you went through that open door,
would you find that things had changed?
What has gone does not remain!

And would we be making love on Arbitrary Tuesday?