I never loved you more deeply than when

We walked to Cafe Mogador for dinner, and rounding the

corner, an old man in a doorway gave us a thumbs up

and an "Alriiiiiiiiight!" He looked like Mafia to me,

and I was wearing the hat you brought me from Dublin,

and the scarf. And you were holding my hand,

and I was holding yours.

Weeks later, waiting for the crosstown bus,

bitter cold, a street person came with a song,

and a rap. You reached in your pocket, and handed him a bill,

without looking at the number. And I gave him

a kiss in return for stretching our two years

into forty.

Later, as I was reading, you passed by,

in your underwear, and stopped to say

"I never loved you more, or more deeply

than when you kissed that street person."

Nor I, my love, nor I.

~~ Julie Li