It is not day
or night
but dawn.
He is not an old man
nor a young man
but a pale man.
He does not knock
or burst in, but uninvited
opens the door.
He does not march
or creep but glides
into the room.
She is not startled
or asleep but calm
as she looks up from her book.
She does not gasp
or shout but speaks
to him of Shakespeare.
The words not harsh
or self-pitying but as
flowers distilled.
He does not rush her
or wait too long — for
he knows this ending
is not an exclamation point,
but a semi-colon or comma,
or even an ellipsis…
Nancy Jesse has written fiction, nonfiction and poetry that have been published in Wisconsin People and Ideas, Midwest Review, and Creative Wisconsin. She is a member of the Wisconsin Writers Association and the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets. She grew up on a dairy farm in northwestern Wisconsin and studied English at the University of Wisconsin— Madison before teaching English for over 30 years at Madison West High School. Retired, she now lives in Madison with her husband, Paul.