As we left,
we murmured our lives away.
The ceremonious cork against
the bobbing she-queen, Queen of the Nile
we stood taller and eager
for the red shores of
Africa. Ours were lives
of bubbles; great wads of the stuff
tacky and sweet, stretched taunt
they could take us places
we thought.

After we left,
we saw it wasn’t a matter of up
we were bound.