VINCENT

As I walked out of store, a wind blew it away—

the winning ticket.

I should have put it

in my thick bulky wallet,

or in my back pocket of my jeans,

or given it to my wife to put in her purse.

But now it is gone with the wood

burning in the fireplace. Never to be seen again,

like the people I loved,

and gods I believed—

the hours that lived.