Joy Is... Ecstasy Is...

From my collection of poems titled “Eulogy for an Old Lover and Other Poems.”

Joy is…

     the holding of hands
     as we sit
     on the hood of
     our car

     under a night sky
     spread above us,
     with an array of stars

     beginning to appear
     as the blue hour
     fades into night, 

     scattered from
     horizon to horizon,
     framing the top 

     of mountains
     in the distance,

sitting in a dark silhouette.